What is an SSL Certificate?

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. It is a protocol that was designed to keep communication over the internet safe. Data sent via an SSL connection is protected by a mechanism called encryption that prevents eavesdropping and tampering.

SSL is an industry standard and is used by millions of websites to protect of online transactions with customers. Anyone who visits a website knows if the site has a valid SSL certificate by looking for a gold padlock icon on the web browser. Some SSL certificates can even turn the address bar of the browser green to even more visually increase customer's confidence. Also, the URL of any website using SSL, starts with https:// instead of http://.