How Does SSL Protect My Website?

One of the most economical and secure ways to protect your website on affordable hosting platforms is to deploy a private Secure Socket Layer (SSL) on you’re your website giving the instant ability to roll out protected URLs like https://www.mysite.com.

If you are still in doubt as to what an SSL actually does consider this explanation from Symantec on the digital handshake that takes place between a browser and a server:

1. A browser attempts to connect to a website secured with SSL.
2. The browser requests that the web server identify itself.
3. The server sends the browser a copy of its SSL certificate.
4. The browser checks whether it trusts the SSL certificate. If so, it sends a message to the server.
5. The server sends back a digitally signed acknowledgement to start an SSL 7 encrypted session.
6. Encrypted data is shared between the browser and the server

Your site receives a permanent “security guard” which protects users in an online transaction, and encrypts data during transmission giving you, said Symantec, a “trillion year head start over a hacker.”

“At current computing speeds, a hacker with the time, tools, and motivation to attack using brute force would require a trillion years to break into a session protected by an SGC-enabled certificate,” said Symantec.

“To enable strong encryption for the most site visitors, choose an SSL Certificate that enables 128-bit minimum encryption for 99.9 percent of website visitors.”

But there are other benefits, too, including:

• Credentials establish identity online
• Authentication generates trust in credential

SSL certificates on Intispace platforms are:

• Signed by Comodo, Geotrust, RapidSSL, Certum, Thawte, Symantec
• 99.3% compatibility with browsers
• 256-bit encryption
• Lock appears in browser