Secure Your Website with Free SSL Certificates

1. Secure Your Website with Free SSL Certificates “In the world of cyber security, the last thing you want is to have a target painted on you.” This quote by Tim Cook emphasizes the need for robust cyber security in this day and age where the Internet has become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Every day we visit numerous websites to carry out various activities that range from professional to personal. Hence, it is extremely important for websites to ensure that they have adequate and up-to-date security measures in place. Before delving into one such website security measure that involves a security certificate, SSL, let us understand how a website is made accessible. Web Hosting Every website that we visit has its files stored on the server of a web hosting company. A website’s files are stored on the server of a web hosting service provider and are delivered from there over the Internet, when requested. A web hosting company not only provides server space to host the files of

2. websites but also provides all the services and technologies that are needed to make websites accessible. Web hosting, which is the service that makes it possible for websites to be accessible, can be of many types. These types include shared, dedicated, VPS, reseller, cloud, WordPress etc. When web hosts provide excellent service, these are referred to as the “Best Website Hosting Company”, the “Best Windows Hosting Company”, the “Top Cloud Hosting Company” etc. Once a website is accessible over the Internet it becomes vulnerable to malicious attacks. Hence, it becomes important to take all the necessary precautions to ensure website security. SSL SSL is the acronym for Secure Sockets Layer, which is a digital certificate that is meant to ensure website authentication and enables encrypted connection. SSL, which is a protocol for encrypting Internet traffic and ascertaining server identity, is usually used by e-commerce sites and pages where users need to submit personal or confidential information. SSL aids in averting hacking attempts by ensuring the safety and privacy of the data that is exchanged between two parties. Secure Sockets Layer is widely used by myriads of websites as the industry standard for protecting and keeping secure sensitive/private data that is exchanged between a web browser and a website. As an Internet standard security technology, SSL is used for establishing a safe (encrypted) connection between a web server, that hosts the files of a particular website, and the site’svisitor’s browser. This secure connection is responsible for keeping the data/information private that is transmitted from a web browser to a web server. That’s how the data that is being transmitted in this way, such as a customer’s data during an online transaction, is kept safe from hackers or any other cybercriminal with malicious intent. It is an SSL certificate which makes it possible for a website to shift from HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) to HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure). A Secure Sockets Layer certificate refers to a data file that is hosted on a website’s origin server.An SSL certificate contains a website’s public key, its identity and other relevant information. The keys that are used for SSL contain long strings of characters that enable data encryption and decryption. Contents of an SSL Certificate An SSL certificate contains information that pertains to the domain name for which a particular certificate has been issued, the entity (individual, organization or device) to whom it has been issued, the certificate authority that issued it and its digital signature. Additionally, it includes the associated subdomains, the date on which the certificate was issued, the certificate’s expiration date and the public key. Need for an SSL Certificate SSL certificates are needed by websites for not only protecting the data of the users but also for verifying the ownership of the website, gaining the trust of the site visitors and for preventing attackers from building a fake version of the site.

3. An SSL ensures encryption through its certificate’s public-private key pairing. Additionally, it aids in authentication to avert domain spoofing and other types of cyberattacks by ascertaining that a client is corresponding with the correct server which owns the domain. Moreover, it helps to gain the trust of the site visitors by providing an HTTPS web address, which is the secure form of HTTP. Risks related to using Free SSL Certificates To obtain free SSL certificates there is no need to spend money. Free SSL certificates aim at providing free of cost HTTPS access available to all websites. Such a certificate can be either a self-signed certificate or it can be signed by a CA (Certificate Authority). The main risks that are part and parcel of using a free SSL certificate are that it doesn’t provide any warranty cover, thorough validation (doesn’t prove the ownership of the domain) and technical support. A free SSL certificate needs to be repeatedly renewed within a short time span. Moreover, when an SSL certificate is free of cost it doesn’t support multiple domains. These drawbacks make it essential to opt for a paid SSL certificate in order to reap the full benefits of using a Secure Sockets Layer certificate for one’s website’s security. Source: https://www.wattpad.com/1044295285-the-drawbacks-of-using-free-ssl-certificates