Secure your site with SSL Certificate

Monday, 21 February 2011

Securing your website is a very crucial part of keeping your data as well as anyone else's data that is stored on your site safe.  One way to help improve the security is to use SSL (Secure Sockets Layer).  SSL is basically a type of specialized transportation security measure that can be implemented on a website.  With SSL, a website can encrypt data that is processed to and from the users which are accessing the site.

SSL is implemented in the following process:

The website owner will need to get an SSL certificate.  They are available through a certification authority provider.  They are then able to be attached to a qualifying domain name and IP address that are on the server.  Once this is in place, the SSL can be configured in any way that is necessary for use on the website.  The most important thing to remember is the fact that SSL needs to be configured the right way to be useful to the website.  An improperly configured SSL being implemented can lead to security faults which could cause problems for the website owner, especially if personal information is leaked from their visitors.

Most certification authority providers will have complete instructions on how to get everything in order for use on the website.   Before a website is made available to the public, it should be tested on the server on a closed system.  This makes it possible to ensure that everything is in order for the website and provides testing possibilities to prevent unauthorized access to the information on the site.

The process in implementing SSL in Windows based servers and Linux/Unix based servers is different and must be done correctly.  Other operating systems may also support SSL as well but may not have any type support in implementing it.  If possible, the client should opt into choosing a webhosting service that offers SSL or another form of specialized security beforehand.  Most webhosting services even provide an SSL option to upgrade with the hosting plan if it is not available in the plan that they are currently using.

Most of the time, SSL is not necessary when important information is not stored on your website.  When there is important information stored there, it is a good idea to look into securing it with an SSL option as soon as possible.  The longer you wait, the longer you will leave your website open to others who may misuse information that they may come across on your website.

The best thing to do is secure the site whenever you are going to be selling things to customers.  This way the customers can understand that they are protected when they are sending you their credit card numbers, addresses and other personal information that they would not want going public.  The SSL makes it harder for hackers and other sources to capture the information that is being transmitted between the website and the users of the website.  Even if they do get the information it will be scrambled and unusable.