Does Your Website Really Need SSL?
The Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) is the most widely released security protocol employed today. It’s basically a protocol that supplies a protected channel between 2 machines functioning over the Internet or an internal network. In today’s Internet focused world, the SSL protocol is typically used when a web browser needs to safely connect to a web server over the insecure Internet.
Technically, SSL is a transparent protocol which needs little interaction from the end user when establishing a protected session. When it comes to a web browser for instance, users are alerted to the presence of SSL when the browser displays a padlock, or, in the case of Extended Validation SSL, when the address bar displays both a padlock and a green bar. This is the key to the success of SSL. It’s an incredibly simple experience for the end users.
Extended Validation (EV) SSL Certificates display a visible trust indicator, as opposed to an unsecured HTTP URLs which begin with “http://”, the secure HTTPS URLs start with “https://”.
HTTP is insecure and is subject to eavesdropping attacks which can let attackers gain access to online accounts and sensitive information if critical information like credit card information and account logins is sent and picked up. Ensuring that data being sent through the browser using the HTTPS protocol, it’s making sure that such information is encrypted and therefor safe and secure from cyber criminals.
Read: Transport Layer Security (TLS) and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
How Is SSL Used In Today’s E-Commerce or Website Service?
- It secure online credit card transactions.
- It secure system logins and any sensitive information exchanged online.
- It secure webmail and applications like Outlook Web Access, Exchange and Office Communications Server.
- It secure workflow and virtualisation applications like Citrix Delivery Platforms or cloud-based computing platforms.
- It secure the connection between an e-mail customer such as Microsoft Outlook and an email server such as Microsoft Exchange.
- It secure the transfer of files over https and FTP( s) services such as website owners updating new pages to their sites or transferring big files.
- It secure hosting control panel logins and activity like Parallels, cPanel, and others.
- It secure intranet based traffic such as internal networks, file sharing, extranets, and database connections.
- It secure network logins and other network traffic with SSL VPNs such as VPN Access Servers or applications like the Citrix Access Gateway.
All these applications have a variety of shared themes:
The data being transmitted over the Internet requires confidentiality. In other words, people do not want their credit card number, account login, passwords or personal details to be exposed over the Internet.
The data needs to stay integral, which means that as soon as credit card details and the amount to be charged to the credit card have been sent out, a hacker sitting in the middle can not intercept the information and change the amount to be charged and or where the funds should go.
Your organisation needs identity assurance to verify itself to customers/users and ensure to them that they are dealing with the right business.
Your company also needs to abide by regional, national or international guidelines on data privacy, security and integrity.
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