SSL Security

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) may sound familiar to many people but they might not necessarily know what it does exactly, except that it has something to do with the internet and used by many ISPs and their mail servers .

Many large and popular websites already have SSL especially financial institutions, even though you may not know it.  Look at your navigation bar above and you’ll notice a padlock; this means any data you transmit to this website will be secure.

Why is it Used?

Secure Sockets Layer is used to secure the data transmitted over the internet between your computer and the destination servers.  This includes all data and could be the password you used to log into Facebook or your credit card information when you are purchasing something online, basically any important information you wouldn’t want others to know.

With an SSL certificate used on the website, any information that is transmitted either way becomes encrypted by using an algorithm and the key within the associated ceertificate, making the data in transmission unreadable to everyone except the intended server. This makes it nearly impossible for online hackers to steal your information.

Also, if you go to your financial institution’s website, you know it is the actual website and not a fake website because you can see the padlock in the navigation bar.   Another way is by seeing the “HTTP” replaced with “HTTPS” in the URL within your browser. If you don’t, then the website is not secure and is probably made to look like the real one where identity thieves can steal your banking information.

 

If you weren’t familiar with SSL before this, then you’ll start to notice it more and more and if you do come across a website that doesn’t have SSL, think twice before submitting any information.

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