The Internet is a network of networks. The information that you share over the Internet passes as packets through a lot of machines through many networks to reach the destination device. Intruders can corrupt the information sent through the Internet if security measures are not taken into consideration. Thus it is important for the people using websites to see if it is secured or not and the website owners to take this into consideration.
One cool thing a website or blog owner can do to earn trust from the viewers is to have SSL being installed.
What is SSL?
An SSL (secure sockets layer) certificate is a digital certificate that both authenticates the identity of a website and encrypts sensitive information so that any passwords, addresses or credit card numbers cannot be intercepted or read by anyone other than the intended recipient.
Advantages of SSL
1. Provides Information Encryption
Information transmission that occurs over a website using SSL certificates is being encrypted ensuring security to the sensitive information. When the information is being encrypted, it is hard for the intruders to understand the content in it.
2. Provides Authentication
SSL provides authentication, meaning it ensures that the information packets while in transmission over the Internet passes through the right servers. Often intruders pretend to be your website and extract data from your customers. Using a proper Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), and getting an SSL Certificate from a trusted SSL provider would make this not happen.
3. Provides Trust
People trust websites which use SSL. This makes a website gain more traffic. Moreover, if a website involves online payments and allows memberships, it is must to have data security measures to protect the information of your customers or clients. In this scenario, SSL is what you can not deny having.
Disadvantages of SSL
SSL Certificates are not normally free (though some hosting companies offer free SSL certificates). Having SSL certificates installed on your websites would probably cost some bucks.
2. Extra Resources Required
SSL Certificates would consume some extra resources in your server as the information has to be encrypted. Noticeable change in the performance of the websites with huge traffic can be a disadvantage of using SSL certificates.
But it is always recommended to use it if your website involves in online payments and data exchanges with the customers or clients.
Kuzu Zangpo la! I am Sonam Dargay. I am a full-time software developer. Apart from 9-5 office works, I am a tech enthusiast, blogger, and dreamer.
I graduated from the College of Science and Technology(CST), affiliated with the Royal University of Bhutan.