SSL Certificate- An Ideal Solution for Ecommerce Security
If you own an e-commerce site, you must have heard of SSL certification in one way or another. You might have even seen lots of ads related to SSL, yet you don’t understand what it is and is essential.
You are not alone, though. Scores of e-commerce entrepreneurs don’t have a clue of what SSL is all about and how it affects e-commerce security. In this article, we will break down the world of SSL in simple terms, including telling you why you should invest in this as part of your eCommerce security efforts.
What is SSL?
SSL is an acronym for Secure Socket Layer, a technology that is used to protect transactions over the web (e-commerce) against access by the wrong party. Eavesdroppers usually target data from login forms, running shopping ads, credit card information, and anything worth stealing.
Millions of business transactions take place over the web with an estimated $1 Trillion sales driving the eCommerce market. With such value of money, users require assurance that their data and sensitive information is safe. This is now where SSL comes into the picture to secure e-commerce transactions.
How SSL works to Secure Your Ecommerce Site
SSL uses two kinds of verification and identification techniques, namely; Public-key cryptography and symmetric encryption. Public key cryptography protects data using both private and public keys. Anyone can access the public key, but the private key is well guarded. The protocol defines that the public key can only access what has been decrypted by the private key.
Also, the private key cryptographically signs data that is sent via the internet to confirm the identity of the respective sender. Now, how do you know if your e-commerce site is SSL secured? Well, it’s simple. Just check your URL on the browser’s address bar. If it doesn’t have a padlock or it starts with HTTP instead of https, then you need to buy an SSL certificate from SSL2BUY.
Still not convinced that you need an SSL certificate. Let’s dig deeper into how SSL certificates can protect your e-commerce transactions.
Reasons You need to invest in SSL For Ecommerce
The primary goal of SSL is to ensure secure communication between the server and the browser. This way, information security is enhanced, and thus, vendors and clients can transact business without a doubt. This minimizes theft and keeps the privacy of sensitive user information.
Another aspect related to security is trust. According to surveys, SSL certification instills more confidence to users who can then confidently shop on eCommerce platforms. Users are increasingly being sensitive to the security of their data and will consider purchasing products from sites that guarantee a high degree of security and privacy.
In a survey published in CreditCards.com, more than half of credit card holders could not buy from websites that have been breached. This figure shows how important it is for eCommerce websites to invest in a more secure SSL. If you are running an eCommerce store, then EV SSL certificate is an ideal choice that not only provides trust to your customers but also protects your site from phishing scams.
SSL Ensures that Information is sent to the right place
Phishing is a common hacking technique where hackers trick people to log in to sites that resemble sites they are visiting, such as banks, eCommerce stores, etc. This way, they can extract login credentials and obtain other sensitive data, thus putting user information in jeopardy. So, it is crucial that users are quite confident that their browser has connected to the right server before entering any sensitive information on the site.
What happens is that when you buy an SSL certificate, you get verified by a Certificate Authority (CA). A CA issues a Digital Certificate which is essentially contains verified identity credentials of your eCommerce website. Other than the padlock, you will also get a CA trust seal showing that your website is secure for transactions. In other words, users can quickly identify your eCommerce website and differentiate from another site that might try to fool them to sending information to the wrong end.
SSL protects information on Transit
Once you have SSL installed, the connection between the server end and the client-side is secured. The browser generates a pre-master key and uses the public key from the certificate to encrypt it. It now sends the encrypted pre-master key to the server.
The server will then decrypt the pre-master key to generate a master key which is used to create session keys. This key is vital as it is used to encrypt all the data running between the server and the browser on the other end.
This system can guarantee almost absolute security when appropriately implemented. If someone eavesdrops, they cannot be able to know the session keys because they don’t have the server’s private key. Also, if they happened to intercept the communication, it would be tough for them to decrypt it.
Tech jargon aside, your users will be able to interact with your sites without worrying about their data falling into the wrong hands. SSL is a simple way to reduce the chances of a data breach that are on the rise and other cyber-attacks targeting eCommerce.
Final Remarks:
It is expected that hackers will target e-commerce retailers in the future as incentives in this space continue to grow. Therefore, it is essential to keep an eye on e-commerce security; for that, you should have an updated SSL installed. There are many certificate authorities like Comodo, GlobalSign, Symantec, etc. which provide up to the mark SSL certificate as per website requirements. At present, if you need a cost-effective SSL, then the Comodo SSL certificate is the best in the SSL industry. With providing customer-centric service, cheap price, and diversified portfolio, Comodo has achieved a remarkable position in the SSL industry.
It even has more benefits than protecting e-commerce transactions. No wonder, Google has integrated SSL into its search algorithm so that websites with SSL are ranked better. SSL is the heart of a secure web in a world where hackers are on the rise.