SSL certificate for the organization: what is it?

SSL certificate for the organization - what is it? There are many digital certificates. Each of them is necessary for its purpose. So, SSL is the most common type. What are they for?

Purpose

If you need to raise a secure connection for the site, you need an SSL certificate for the organization. Most often they are used on those sites where there is a function of ordering something. The user on them enters personal information. To prevent it from being intercepted at the time of transfer from the browser to the server, the HTTPS protocol is used, which encrypts the transmitted data. Activating the operation of this protocol is what an SSL certificate is for.

Description

The abbreviation is Secure Socket Layer. A certificate is a standard network security technology used to encrypt the connection between the site (web server) and the user's browser. The SSL certificate for the organization allows the use of an encrypted protocol. This is a secure connection, which guarantees that all the transmitted data will remain private. They will be protected from intruders who want to steal information. One of the most common examples for using SSL is protection during online money transfer.

Self-signed type

The simplest way, which, moreover, is free is to use a self-signed certificate that is generated on the web server. This feature is available in all popular hosting management panels. The SSL certificate for organizing a self-signed type is good because it does not need to be paid for. But it's bad that all browsers will respond to it with a mistake about an unverified site.

For public services this type is contraindicated.

Principle of operation and reception

The installation of the SSL certificate starts with the fact that you need to generate a request for its issuance. During the formation, questions will be asked in order to clarify details about the company and the domain. Upon completion, the web server will create two cryptographic keys - private and public.

After the request is generated, you can proceed with the processing of the application, which allows you to obtain an SSL certificate for the organization. The CA will verify all entered data, if all goes well, issue a certificate with data and enable the use of a secure connection. The server will automatically match the document with a private key.

What does the certificate contain?

What is the SSL certificate for? What data does it contain? It contains the following information:

• The unique name of the document owner.
• Open cryptographic key.
• Date of issue and termination of the certificate.
• The unique name of the certification center.
• Digital signature.

What is a certification authority?

This is an organization that has the right to issue digital certificates. It checks the data contained in the request before issuing it. In the simplest documents, only domain compliance is tested, and in expensive ones, there are many checks of the organization requesting the certificate.

The difference between self-signed and paid certificates lies in this very check, due to which the visitors of the site will not receive messages from the browser about the suspicion of the document.

After the request, the certificate passes the verification procedure for all parameters, if one of them does not match, a message about not using the secure connection pops up. And this is the last thing a client should see.

There are a large number of certification centers, but Symantec is the largest.

Types of certificates

Since there is more than one type of such document, the owners of organizations face the following question: how to choose an SSL certificate?

Between them, they differ in the level of validation and properties.

The first parameter is:

• Certificates that confirm only the domain name.
• Certificates confirming the domain, as well as organization.
• Certificates with extended validation.

The properties are:

• Ordinary, produced automatically. They are suitable for all sites and cost no more than $ 20 a year.
• Certificates with increased level of encryption, relevant for older versions of browsers. Most often not needed, but corporations with old hardware can come in handy. Cost from 300 dollars a year.
• Certificates for encryption of subdomains. The cost is from 180 dollars. It is advantageous to use when the number of subdomains is more than 9.
• SAN certificates used for multiple domain names on the same server. Cost from 400 dollars.
• EV certificates with extended validation. They can only be used by a legal entity, as well as commercial, non-profit or government organizations.
• Certificates supporting IDN.

Thus, for a particular type of organization it is necessary to select its own SSL certificate. Is it necessary? Undoubtedly, nobody wants personal information of clients to reach intruders.