Difference Between SSL Certificate and Wildcard SSL Certificate

SSL Certificate:

SSL Certificate is used to get a secure connection between a server and a browser while transferring sensitive data to avoid misuse of data being shared or transferred.

There are different levels of certification validation. Few are listed below:

Extended Validation Certificates
Organization Validated Certificates
Domain Validated Certificates
Single Domain Certificates
Wildcard SSL Certificate
Multi Domain SSL Certificate (MDC)
Unified Communications Certificate (UCC)

Wildcard SSL Certificate

In this article we will talk about Wildcard SSL Certificate. SSL certificate safeguards data from a third party by ensuring secure link/connection between a server and a browser. But, when it comes to securing all sub-domains along with main domain, Wildcard SSL certificate is needed. Workings of both the certificates, i.e. SSL Certificate as well as Wildcard SSL certificate is almost the same with only one major difference and that is Wildcard SSL Certificate not only provides security to main domain but also, to all other sub-domains linked to the main domain irrespective of SSL certificate, which provides security to only the main domain.

Difference Between These Two

Wildcard SSL Certificate secures the URL of your website as well as its sub-domain, which can be numerous. Let us assume that you own a site www.mybusiness.com. If you get a Wildcard SSL Certificate, for this particular site, then it will not only secure this particular URL but also, all other sub-domains like blog.mybusiness.com, shop.mybusiness.com, onlinestore.mybusiness.com etc., provided these sub-domains are linked with the main domain. Whereas, a regular SSL Certificate normally secures single fully qualified domain name. In short, if you own or manage multiple sites/pages that exist on the same domain/ main domain, Wildcard SSL Certificate is what you need for a complete internet security and at a better price.

Working of Wildcard SSL Certificate

• When an organization applies for Wildcard SSL Certificate, it means that it owns multiple website or sub domains.

• When CA (Certification Authority) issues a certificate, organization must ensure that all sub domains are associated with the main domain else it will affect the level of security.

• Once the validation of the domain and the sub domain is checked, Wildcard SSL Certificate will provide the same level of security to the main domain and all other sub domains associated with it.

• Wildcard SSL Certificate will look for all the possible sub domain names and will provide security to them. For example, a Wildcard SSL Certificate is issued to *.mybusiness.com, where ‘*’ represents all the sub domains associated with the main domain and in return Wildcard SSL Certificate will provide security to all the possible sub domains suffixed ‘.mybusiness.com’.