Posts Tagged ‘ssl certifcates’

What Is Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)?

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

Using an SSL is a guarantee that you’re on the safe track when dealing with merchants or sellers in the internet. Ecommerce is now the trend, so you really don’t know who you’re dealing with.

An SSL creates an encrypted link between a website server and a browser. CA ( Certificate Authority )  is the seller you’ll get the secure server certificate from CSR ( Certificate Signing Request ) which is a text file generated by an internet server.It looks something like this:

—–BEGIN NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST—–
MIIDGgBNAGkAYwByAG8AcwBvAGYAdAAgAFIAUwBBACAAUwB
AG4AZQBsACAAQwByAHkAcAB0AG8AZwByAGEAcABoAGkAYwl
L0ygNwwNIvKLMPq4/LcUkZ9Oo4AssXW5mvvhHWGz2RWYRhrw8o
—–END NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST—–

There are a few things that you must know when using SSL.

First, you must judge whether to use your hosting shared SSL certificate if they offer it. The URL to your store will look something similar to. Or are you wanting to get your own SSL certificate? The URL will look like:. If you make a decision to use your hosts’ shared secure server certificate, then all you must do is find out the trail you want to use to call your files soundly, and you’ll be on the way. If you choose to get your own SSL certificate, this if normally what occurs. You need to choose who you are going to get your SSL certificate from. It’s a smart idea to make certain your host supports your particular seller. * you may also review many sellers at a peek at WhichSSL. Before getting your own SSL certificate, you’ll need to do some reading on what your selected Certificate Authority needs for a safe certificate, and you may also need to come up with some paperwork. There are many steps to buying a safe server certificate, when you have selected a seller.

This is an overview, not drafted in stone. Each CA is dissimilar, so be sure you read their paperwork and what they need. All paperwork that is requested must match *exactly*.

Secure certificate authorities will confirm that your organization really exists, so they know they are issuing to the right company. You’ll need to prove the Organization Name and the site name are in reality yours to use. * depending on the seller, it can take one or two hours to some days. * Send secure certificate to host for installation. Once your website hosting supplier receives this info ; they will generate the CSR and send it back to you in plain text. You then send it on to Verisign or Thawte, or whoever you have selected as your secure certificate authority. They can then generate a SSL certificate for you which you may send back to your host for installation.

Your internet host may charge money for installation as well as what your SSL certificate seller charges. If you have made a decision to buy your own SSL certificate, you’ll need to choose how you would like your URL to be called. Always use yourself or your company as technical contact.