Why SSL Technology is Necessary for Websites?

The world of Internet has taken over almost every nation residing on the map. Lifestyle has been changed while people are inclined towards modern ways of achieving their day-to-day tasks. Thanks to the growing popularity of web and mobile applications.

Online transactions are becoming prominent, shoppers love to explore and buy goods through digital medium. Whether it’s a grocery item or a home furnishing product, be it a kid’s utility good or a fashionable dress, everything you can think of today is available online. What’s important to note is that people are also not reluctant in making a purchase through these online ventures, which was the case a decade ago.

Times have changed and mode of operations have also seen a drastic makeover from the past. But, what makes crucial to point out here is that are these online shopping portals safe? Credit/Debit cards are being widely used by the shoppers to make a purchase on their favorite online store, which makes the process vulnerable to online thefts. Hence, there is a need for a secure medium for transactions, which brings in the role of HTTPS and SSL certificates.

For a layman, these terms might look a bit vague but for technology-savvy personnel, these terms don’t come as a surprise. With the increasing vulnerability in tech domain and growing cyber crimes it’s important for everyone accessing the internet or making online payments to understand such terms and act accordingly whenever required.

What is HTTP?

Defined as Hypertext Transfer Protocol is an application-layer between the client and the server that works on the request-response technique to accomplish desired computing processes. It is responsible for transferring hypertext documents over WWW (World Wide Web) in form of request from the client (web browser) to the server, which reverts with necessary information as a response to that request. Ultimately, the user sees the desired information on the web page.

What is HTTPS?

After years of use of HTTP, the need for security arose, which gave birth to HTTPS, a secure application layer for transferring information between the two, the server and the client. HTTPS makes use of SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) or TLS (Transport Layer Security) for encrypting the data being exchanged between the server and the client.

Google also has started giving priority to HTTPS web pages ahead of HTTP-only pages in its search results. This makes even more important for online entities and businesses to consider its integration in their websites on priority and stop looking it as a secondary parameter.

SSL is a requisite now

It’s important for businesses to secure their private and confidential data from getting breached. SSL plays a crucial role here. As mentioned earlier, it creates a secure and encrypted connection between the two parties, the server and the client (end user’s web browser) so that all the information being exchanged remains impregnable.

The online stores need to be proactive in grabbing their security certificate as by not doing so can get them penalized on legal terms. Also, business would suffer severe loss due to the same. Plus, customers would also be reluctant in shopping from that particular website or app. As a result, trust between you and your customers will deplete.

Customers want a secure platform to enter their personal as well as account details and unless they figure out such an environment they hold themselves back. E-commerce companies require taking necessary steps in this regard so that business doesn’t get hampered at any point in time. Ecommerce transactions involve sensitive information like bank details, which at no point of time user would like to pass through an untrusted party (in this case the online portal).

So, it becomes necessary for Ecommerce companies or any other agency that deals in an online transaction to get certified and provide the convenience to its customer base of making a purchase through their portal or website safely and securely.

There are multiple companies in the market issuing SSL certificates to the website owners. These entities are called as Certificate Authorities (CAs). The pool of such agencies is huge; hence it is advised to do enough research about them prior finalizing. There is a standard validation scheme, which these CAs perform in order to grant a certificate to an organization. Those complying to the requisites and satisfying the guidelines can enter the shield gate while keeping others at distance.

There have been cases involving CAs issuing certificates to website holders without following the standard norms and regulations. Therefore, it is advised to get a certificate from a reputed firm or a recognized organization.

There are different kinds of SSL validation, which as an organization you can go for and keep intact the trust level with your customers.

• Domain-validated certificates
  
• Web server authentication certificates
  
• Extended Validation certificates
  
• Wildcard certificates
  
• Unified Communications (UC or SAN) certificates
  
• Code signing certificates
  
• E-mail certificates