SSL Certificates

SSL Certificate is set of digital keys installed on a server. Its primary purpose is to encode and decode information transmitted between a visitor and the server. Moreover, the SSL certificate also confirms the identity of the site, as the owner of the website must prove the right to use the domain or even prove the company’s legitimacy in order to obtain the certificate.

There are several reasons why nowadays you need to use an SSL certificate.

1. The most important reason is the trust of your website visitors. The green padlock of the certificate will show that the site is safe and validated. This is crucial for e-commerce websites or any other website where visitors leave their data, such their credit card data or name and surname.
2. The certificate will assure that all the data transferred from the website visitor`s computer, phone, or any other device will be encrypted. In the case of data leakage, they will stay safe as all the information will be encrypted.
3. On July of 2018, Google announced that all websites without a certificate will be marked as unsafe and untrustworthy. The Google ranking of such websites decreases significantly.
4. With SSL certificate, the URL of the website will be marked with a green padlock or additional company name record (depends on which certificate you will choose). This mark can be seen by the visitors immediately, so the validity of the domain can be rated instantly.

Mostly, you need to protect various website’s forms and features where visitors may be asked to provide sensitive information:

Credit card payment details
New website user registration data
Request form with contact details
Form to receive newsletters
Website search form

All this information may be intercepted by third parties if the site does not use the SSL certificate. To avoid this, we recommend that you do not hesitate to protect your site’s visitors by installing an SSL certificate.

In short:
1. The browser encrypts the message by using the public key of the certificate and sends it to the server;
2. The server decrypts the message with a private key that only the server possesses.
3. The site is recognized as authentic. The visitor is sure to connect to a real store/bank/payment service, and not a phishing/scam site.

The data is transmitted from the website visitor to the server through the HTTPS protocol. HTTPS uses a cryptographic protocol SSL to encrypt the data.

How Do Certificates Differ?

Certificates can differ in some ways. One type of differentiation is related to the number of domain names that you will be able to protect. Please keep in mind that the subdomain www is also counted as a separate domain.

1. Single domain certificate. It means that this certificate can protect only one domain and any of its subdomains, for example, time4vps.com and www.time4vps.com.
2. SAN. This type of certificate can protect up to 3 domains and subdomains for a regular price. However, you can add up to 100 domains with additional pricing. As it has been mentioned before, any subdomain counts as a separate domain.
3. Wildcard. This type of certificate can protect one domain and all of its subdomains, for example, the time4vps.com domain and all subdomains like www.time4vps.com, mail.time4vps.com, billing.time4vps.com, etc.

Another way to differentiate certificates is by the green padlock on the website`s URL line.

1. Domain validated - the lowest level certificate guarantees that a website visitor is on the website that he/she wants to visit. Small businesses or individuals use this type of certificate. These certificates are distinguished by an affordable price and easy design. Their validation is the simplest one – the domain owner should confirm the rights for the domain in order to have the certificate confirmed.
The certificate shows the green tab in the address bar of the browser. Some browsers (such as Mozilla Firefox) provide more information about the certificate, in this case, you will see a record of the domain validation. One of the most common certificates of this type is Positive SSL from Sectigo.

2. Organization validated – these are higher level certificates. To verify this certificate, an organization must provide true and real information about itself and confirm that it is legal. In addition to the domain name, this SSL contains information about the company to which it was issued. Certificates confirm the security of the connection between the user's browser and the server and also prove that the site of the organization specified in the electronic certificate is owned by the organization. A legal entity can purchase such an SSL, and the processing time takes up to several business days (it takes time to verify the documents provided).

3. Extended validation - these certificates are important to large companies, as they need the highest level of data protection. Such certificates are used to guarantee data protection, especially when it comes to billing information sent during transactions. The presence of such a certificate means that the company periodically undergoes checks on the conformity of its data. For the registration of this certificate, the company provides a set of documents, verification of which takes up to several days, until the certificate is issued.

1. Buy a certificate
2. Activate the certificate
3. Install the certificate
4. Update your site to use HTTPS

Installation depends on what control panel is on your server. cPanel, DirectAdmin, or any other popular control panels offer automated certificate installation. Otherwise, the certificate needs to be installed manually.

Yes, you can buy only a certificate with no other services.

Yes, SSL certificate issuance is automated.

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