Ok, the first step in becoming “secure” is getting an SSL Certificate for your site/business.
SSL Stands for Secure Socket Layer and it’s simply a data file that binds or connects your domain name, server name, and or host name to your website.
If you want to get deeper, it’s all about the crypto keys. These are incredibly long strings of random numbers. There’s two – a public key and a private key. Together, they create a very complicated math problem for the browser to solve if one of the two are missing. That in the simplest terms is how digital encryption works.
Back to obtaining an SSL Cert…
So, there are many places to get an SSL Cert. There are also a few different levels of SSL Certs. At the most basic level, the SSL Cert will verify that the domain name matches the domain files and the host. That’s important as there are scripts out there that’ll mask and reroute domain traffic to the sites of the bad guys.
At the higher levels of SSL Certification – the issuing company will verify ownership of the company, the physical address and other details as well.
Most of the sites I build don’t need that. Simple is usually just fine. In SSL terms this called a Domain Validation SSL.
Posted in: HTTPS, SSL and making your site Secure