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Fundamentals Of Ssl Certificates And Certificate Authorities Essay

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The Fundamentals of SSL Certificates and Certificate Authorities (CA) By adding an SSL certificate, Experts Exchange members not only protect their business but also increase customer confidence by safely encrypting their customers’ most sensitive data. For online transactions, an SSL certificate turns sensitive data into encrypted secure code. The web browser then checks the SSL certificate to make sure that the website is legitimate. Once verified, the web browser and server processes the encoded information. This helps to ensure that the sensitive data delivered between the web browser and server is handled safely, securely, and that the website is PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliant. Certificate Authorities (CA) play an integral role in the entire SSL process because they’re the ones issuing these digital certificates. In essence, digital certificates, such as an SSL, are small verifiable data files containing identity credentials that help authenticate the online identity of people, websites, and devices. Each digital certificate includes valuable information like the expiration date of the certificate, the owner’s name and other important information, along with a public key – a value provided by some designated authority as an encryption key. As a trusted entity issuing these digital certificates, the CA must meet strict and detailed criteria before being accepted as a member. Once accepted, the CA is authorized to distribute SSL certificates. The longer the

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