What SSL Is And Why You Would Need It

SSL is short for Secured Sockets Layer. This is a protocol that is created by Netscape which allows data to be transmitted through the Internet in a secure manner. With SSL, you can ensure that the data you are transmitting is sent exactly as you send it without any changes and that it is sent only to the particular server it is intended for. SSL is thus vital to ensure safety of transmitted data on your site.

If your website has SSL, the url of your site will include the letters ‘https’ in the beginning instead of just ‘http’ that is seen on most url’s. The additional ‘s’ in the url indicates that your website is a secure one and this helps to increase the confidence of your visitors.

Why You Need SSL

The SSL protocol uses two different types of keys to encrypt data that is being transmitted to make it secure. The public key is what site visitors can see, whereas the private key is the one which is visible only to recipient of the data. Such SSL encryption thus ensures that private and confidential information does not fall into the wrong hands and is safe from website hackers.

If you have an e-commerce website and your customers can make payments through credit cards, it is absolutely vital that their credit card information is safeguarded and not misused. The only way to ensure this is to have a secure website, which is what SSL offers you.

Even if you do not have an e-commerce website but you still collect confidential information from your visitors such as their names, addresses, contact numbers etc, you still need an SSL secure site to ensure their privacy and safety.

SSL Certificates

SSL certification is generally not required if payments on your site are being processed by a third party vendor such as Paypal. However, if you are utilizing e-commerce payment gateways, then SSL certificates are necessary.

Some web hosts provide a shared SSL certificate to all their customers. However, when a visitor visits a site that has a shared SSL certification, that visitor will get an error message that the website is not secure because the validity of the certificate will be in question. Site visitors may thus leave such websites believing them to be unsecured and take their business to other sites that have secured private SSL certifications.

Thus, in order to retain your paying customers, it is always advisable to have your own private SSL certification instead of relying on the shared SSL that your web host may provide you with.