SSL/TLS Certificates
Verify Ownership and Legitimacy of Sites
SSL certificates, now more commonly referred to as TLS certificates, act as digital trust seals for websites. They are issued by trusted third-party organizations called Certificate Authorities (CAs).
These CAs verify the ownership and legitimacy of a website before issuing a certificate. They are essential for all websites, especially those that handle sensitive data. They are critical for building trust, protecting user data, and improving search engine ranking.
Certificates Serve Two Primary Purposes
An SSL certificate verifies the identity of a website, similar to how ID cards verify individual identities. This is crucial for building trust with users, especially when sensitive information like login credentials or credit card details are involved.
An SSL certificate verifies the identity of a website, similar to how ID cards verify individual identities. This is crucial for building trust with users, especially when sensitive information like login credentials or credit card details are involved.
SSL certificates enable the encryption of data sent between a website and its visitors. This scrambling process makes information unreadable to anyone intercepting it, protecting sensitive data from being stolen or tampered with.
Illustrative Example
Imagine you’re sending a confidential letter. You put it in a locked container (encryption) and then address it to the recipient with a verified seal (authentication) to ensure it reaches the right person. This is essentially what an SSL certificate does in the digital world.