In today’s world, internet SSL (Secure sockets layer) /Https certificate is essential for bloggers. This is to ensure encryption of data, which prevents third party inversion. Security is essential for any website to offer security to build trust for visitors and for better ranking. An SSL is an important feature for all online businesses; it builds trust in the customers’ minds as well as getting priority under google.
A wild card certificate can be used for the base domains. This comes handy for businesses that intend to secure their sub-domains with a single certificate.
Advantages of using SSL Certificates
This enables the customers to add sub-domains anytime during the certificate validity period and reissue it anytime. An SSL has the following advantages;
- Validation type
- Unlimited sub-domains security
- Saves time and management cost
- Has encryption warranty and compatibility
There are tons of cheapest SSL certificates providers; however, extensive research about their policies support and pricing should be done before selection. Buying an SSL certificate comes handy if you are decisive about your preferred requirement, and it can be a challenge if you have little knowledge about it. Below are important guidelines on the selection of an SSL certificate.
- Get your server set up and make sure your WHOIS record is up to date
- Generate a certificate signing request from the server
- Submit the CSR and other much-needed information to the certificate authority for the SSL product purchased.
- Complete the validation for your domain and company if your company requires it.
Before buying an SSL certificate, one should have the following:
- Unique IP address– There should be an IP address to install SSL certificate and you can install multiple SSL certificates on a sample IP address and sever.
- CSR Generation (Certificate Signing Request)- this is a piece of encrypted text that must be generated from your web server before the issuance of an SSL certificate. The CA will use the information contained in the CSR to create your certificate when issuing. Private key will also be generated with CSR.
- An up to date WHOIS record-When you buy SSL certificate for your website, your CA will verify your domain name to ensure valid information about your business and contact information. The
Certificate authorities check WHOIS record while issuing the certificate. However, the CA sends email to authorized email address or check WHOIS record tool to check domain status.
- Business /organization Documents-these These are documents that verify your organization or business including business registration document, third party business registration verification. The CA always verifies it from an online government database to verify your business information and government registration document by issuing an SSL certificate. After verification is complete, the CA moves forward to issue a certificate.
How to get an HTTPS Certificate.
Ones you are done setting up an SSL getting an https certificate involves the following steps.
- Getting an SSL certificate is nowadays easy for an SSL applicant. You can find many options starting from FreeSSL providers, hosting companies, certificate authorities and SSL providers. However, if you prefer FreeSSL then it may come with limited validity and you need to renew after a certain period of a time. It is easy and affordable to get an SSL certificate from SSL reseller like CheapSSLShop.com with the same quality of SSL certificate.
- There are multiple SSL providers who offer different types of SSL certificates starting from a single domain SSL, wildcard SSL certificate, EV SSL, UCC certificate, multi-domain SSL, etc. You should choose according to your business type and budget of course.
- Once you get a certificate, you need to pay the price and start for its configuration process. CSR should be created from the server on which the certificate is going to install.
- Once you complete the configuration process, you will receive an email that you need to verify for domain ownership and if you have chosen business validation or extended validation then you need to submit business related documents as discussed above to the CA. Once the CA verifies the documents, they send the certificate and CA Bundle file in a mail that you need to install on the server.
- Update the site to use Https at this point. If you go to https://yoursite.com, you should see it load! It means the SSL is installed and your visitors can browse the site over HTTPS.
How Secure is HTTPS?
The most vital issue for any website is security; this pops the question of how secure HTTPS is. HTTPs protects the integrity of and confidentiality of data between the user and the site. Data sent using HTTPs is secured via a transport layer security protocol, which provides three key layers of protection.
- Encryption– Encryption uses to encodes the data passing between the server and the browsers. It means that third party cannot intercept online conversations and capture the information.
- Data integrity-Data integrity makes sure that the data passing between the server and browser is not altered since it is signed.
- Authentication -proves that your users communicate with the intended website also builds user’s trust.
How to Protect the Website from Hacks & Attacks
After going through all these steps, one needs to protect his/her site from attacks and malware by employing extra efforts.
However, there are a few things one can do to prevent hackers and malware from compromising your website. They include,
- You should update software, security plugins, scripts timely to keep hackers away from the site. Outdated software is a smooth target for hackers as they can easily penetrate it and steal the data.
- Use security software or Plugins– There are many security plugins and antivirus software that protects your website round the clock. You can also use firewall to monitor incoming traffic and filter it before reaching to the network.
- Prevent users from uploading files– You should prevent users in your company to upload files to your website automatically as it creates a security vulnerability.
- Install an SSL certificate-this confirms that your website is secure and able to transfer encrypted information back and forth between your server and a person’s browse
- Redirect your website on HTTPS ones you have an SSL certificate to continually enjoy the protection.
Conclusion:
SSL is not an ultimate solution to your website security as you need to focus on other preventive measure to keep hackers stay off from the website. Once you get the SSL certificate, it is essential to renew it timely to activate the protection on your website. Many SSL providers offer renewal benefits that you can take advantage of it.
