What is an SSL Certificate?

SSL Certificates - General Information

A SSL Certificate (SSL is short for Secure Sockets Layer) provides for the ability for your site/application traffic to be processed in a secure, encrypted format. Most e-commerce sites and sites dealing with personal data have utilized SSL Certificates for quite some time, ensuring secure processing of customer data.

Why do I need an SSL Certificate?

Google has started rewarding sites with SSL over those without with all else being equal. Later this year, with Chrome, Google will be giving a warning to visitors of sites not using SSL Certificates.

  • To Prevent Your Customers’ Sensitive Data Such As Credit Card Numbers And Passwords From Being Intercepted By A Third Party.

  • To Help Visitors To Identify Your Website As Legitimate And Increase Visitor Trust.

  • Make Potential Customers Feel Safe And Confident To Perform Online Transactions Or Do Business With You.

How to Choose

The Correct SSL Certificate

In most general cases, the less expensive RapidSSL will work fine. However, for busy e-commerce sites, your customers will be more assured by an EV (Extended Validation) certificate. Anybody can get a regular certificate, but for an EV certificate, a vetting process is done to ensure the identity of the company getting the certificate. This allows for the Green Bar that customers look for.

There are also times when you may need to secure multiple sub domains on a site like www., mail., anything., etc. This is when you would want to utilize a WildCard certificate.

SSL Certificates with EV

What does Extended Validation Mean?

An Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificate means that the certificate authority has done a multi-step verification process on the party requesting the certificate to verify their identity. This allows the SSL Authority to issue an EV certificate with higher assurance. SSL Certificates that have undergone the Extended Validation are indicated in your visitor's browser by a green address bar.

Though normally more expensive, SSL certificates with EV ensure your visitors that they can be confident about their security when performing online transactions. SSL certificates with EV are highly recommended for companies with a high number of eCommerce transactions or where visitors' sensitive data must be adequately secured.

Multi-Server Wildcard SSL

Secure Multiple Domains Across Servers

To secure one or more domains across multiple servers, you will need a multi-server wildcard SSL certificate. While we do not currently have an SSL product offering to fit this need, we instead recommend the WildCard Plus Certificate from DigiCert. This same type of certificate is used to secure a number of Hostek domains. Hostek is not affiliated with DigiCert.