Security of the website is as important as the design and interface of a website. Business owners need to provide a secure and safe website to their users. Some people believe that a website needs to be secured when dealing with credit card information or online transactions. But it is not always true regardless of the credit card information or the online transaction activities; all the other activities on the websites also need to be secured.
The security is not only for the website users but also for the website owners as both the user and the website host communicate during a session.
We will discuss that what is SSL and its importance for websites and some of the aspects that make a website secure in the upcoming paragraphs below.
Why SSL important for website security?
SSL stands for secure socket layer. It is important for the security, confidentiality and privacy of the website users and the owners. When the user shares his/her credit card details and other transactional details, there might be chances that an intruder will decrypt all your information and hack your account. To avoid such situations, SSL or secure socket layer is important for a website.
The SSL works so that it decrypts all data and sends it to the server through sharing keys between the server and the browser. To ensure the security within your website and make it worth using, hire professional website design companies to include strong security layers in your websites.
Decryption of information
The decryption of the information between the server and the browser follows certain steps to ensure security. The steps for exchanging information are as follows.
- The browser requests the server to identify over a secure layer or SSL by sending a request message.
- In response to the browser’s request, the server replies with its public key and its SSL certificate.
- The server checks for the expiration and validation of the certificate; upon confirmation of the certificate, the browser sends an encrypted session key to the server to develop a session.
- The server decrypts the session key using its private key, and in response to the browser’s request, sends an ack message with a session key.
- This way, all the communication between the server and browser will be encrypted and secure.
Note: your session key and private key mustn’t be visible to the middle man. If not, the intruder will be successful in decrypting your messages using the private and session keys.
What are the types of SSL certificates?
The three most common validation certificates identify the level of encryption of a website. The elements of a good website must be secured and have any of these three certificates for ensuring the security of the site.
1. Extended Validation certificate (EV SSL)
It is one of the expensive validation certificates. Such certificates contain a lock, the domain name, the country name in the URL. For the websites that collect online transactions and payments, it is important to have this certificate.
2. Organization Validated certificates (OV SSL)
It provides a moderate level of encryption. The website owners who do not want to spend on an extended validation certificate can go for an organization validation certificate. This certificate ensures that your domain name and the organization are for real.
3. Domain Validated certificate (DV SSL)
The encryption levels are the lowest in the domain validated certificate. It is one of the easiest and fastest validation certificates to get and demands submitting a few documents and papers to apply for the certificate.
How do you know the website has an SSL?
The two most common ways to identify whether the web application has an SSL or not by looking at the URL are as follows.
1. HTTP and HTTPS
All the websites with HTTPS in their URL instead of HTTP are secure and have a secure socket layer.
2. Lock on the left of URL
Another way of identifying an SSL is the lock icon at the beginning of the URL at the left. Some URL’s do not have the lock icon, which means that the data transmission over such websites is not secure.
What are the impacts of SSL on SEO?
The secure websites have higher chances of ranking on the top in the google search list. Apart from the website’s content, search engines also check for the website’s security matters. The websites with SSL will always be on the top list compared to the sites that do not have an SSL. It is better to have a secure website for the privacy of both the user and the web owner. Hire professional web development companies to develop a secure website for your business today so that you and your web users can share the information confidentially.
Secure your website today
For the ease of your web applicants and yourself, it is crucial to have SSL certificates and make all your online transactions safe and secure. Every data or information you share over the web is important, and it is important to make security arrangements for that data.
