Wednesday, February 28, 2018

You Should Know Before Purchasing An SSL Certificate And SSL Digital Certificate

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate is important when personal details, sensitive data or confidential data is being transferred using internet. In order to secure it from being misused by third party or hacker, we need an extra layer of security- SSL. To provide internet security, the data being shared between a server and a browser is encrypted before sharing thus remains safe from being accessed by wrong person or misused by any third party.  



SSL certificate is highly recommended where details like credit card number, bank details etc are required. SSL certificate Makes any site more reliable. E-commerce is very common now days, due to lack of time most of us prefer online shopping. But what if the e-commerce site is not secure? Most of us will prefer to search for a link which is more secure and reliable. Not only e-commerce sites but all the sites that handle sensitive information or personal information should opt for SSL Certificate in order to provide data security. It not only provides security but also enhance search engine ranking. These are the reasons why SSL Certificate is a must. 

However, there are certain things that should be kept in mind before acquiring SSL Certificate:

Which SSL to opt for: There are dedicated SSL as well as Shared SSL. Shared SSLs are normally free of cost, no support service and link is not that secure. Whereas, Dedicated SSLs have good support service and cost money but is completely owned by one user only, thus is highly recommended for e-commerce sites.

Encryption level: Depending upon purpose of SSL certificate, there is an availability of various level of encryption. For example: For blogs, level of security required is less than that of any e-commerce sites. So before accruing SSL certificate, one should be aware of the level of encryption.

From whom: There are quite a number of companies that sell SSL certificate but are these companies reliable or trustworthy? I would suggest to go for a good brand or CA (Certificate Authorities), especially, when we are talking about security of e-commerce sites.

IP address: SSL is linked to an IP address to provide security to domain/site. So it becomes very important to have a dedicated IP address in order to secure it a 100%. Although SSL certificate can be used in a shared environment as well.

Tenure: Minimum tenure for validation of SSL certificate is one year. But it depends upon requirement, service and cost, which one would suit you the most.  

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

A Guide To Understand – SSL, TLS, SSL Certificate And Https Certificate

If you are technically not very sound and do not understand most of the terms used, then this article is especially written for you. In this article we will discuss about SSL, TSL, SSL certificate and HTTPS in detail, and in a language which is easy to understand. 



SSL: SSL is an acronym for Secure Sockets Layer. It is a technology used to provide security. Now, the question that comes to our mind is ‘provides security to whom?’ When we open any site, a link is created between a browser and a web server. This link has to be secured so that no hacker can misuse or modify the information or data. To achieve this kind of security, data has to be encrypted to make it impossible to read. With the help of this encrypted link, the data transferred between the browser and the server or, in some cases, one server to another remains safe and secured. In simple words, SSL is a technology which safeguards information, which is being transferred from one system to another from hackers or any other third party by creating an encrypted link between the two systems.

TLS: TLS stands for Transport Layer Security. It is similar to SSL but is more secure. In simple words, it is updated version of SSL. However, SSL is the most commonly used term, so if you bought latest SSL and want to go for TLS instead, you don’t have to spend a single penny because most probably the latest SSL which you already have is actually a TLS certificate.

SSL Certificate: To get a secure connection or SSL connection between the browser and server, there is a need for SSL certificate. The information SSL Certificate carry is a domain name, company/organization name and complete address along with country name. Along with these details, additional information that the certificate contains is the date of expiration, which thoroughly depends upon the tenure you have opt for, and CA (Certification Authority) details. CA is the entity, which is responsible for issuing SSL Certificate.Whenever a browser makes connection with the server, it checks SSL certificate of that particular site and its expiration date. Along with this, authenticity of Certification Authority (CA) is also verified. If any of the above mentioned information fails, the browser will automatically display a warning about the internet security threat. The warning simply means that the site is not secure to use.

HTTPS: It stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure. We all are familiar with the term HTTP. HTTPS is a secure version of HTTP. When we talk about the word ‘secure’ we mean encryption (converting data into a non-readable form). When we use internet, wide amount of data is shared. The data can contain personal details, bank account details, credit card details, confidential data or sensitive data. When we share this data online via login forms, online shopping, banking or by any other means, our preference is to transfer data in such a way that it do not fall into wrong hands, is misused or modified. In short, data needs to be transferred from browser to server in a secured way. This is why, HTTPS came into existence. HTTPS provides secure communication over internet.

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Comodo Multi Domain Wildcard SSL Certificate And How It Works

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 SSL Certificate and Wildcard SSL Certificate

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’

Friday, February 23, 2018

Get a green lock bar SSL Certificate And https Certificate for your website (HTTPS)

SSL

When we are talking about security over internet, we are basically talking about SSL (Secure Socket Layer), which acts as a backbone of internet security. As information travels across the world through computer network via internet, it becomes essential to protect sensitive data. Data can be secured if the transfer is done in encrypted form, which is a non-readable form that is exactly what SSL does.



SSL Certificate

It is a data file, which provides secure connection between a web server and a browser. It provides a secure encrypted link/connection between a server and a browser via which data can be transferred or shared in a secured form. Data can be passed over internet without compromising its privacy, integrity and security. There are different levels of SSL certificate and those are:
  • Extended Validation (EV)
  • Organization Validation (OV)
  • Domain Validation (DV)

Extended validation certificate (EV)

Out of all SSL certificates, Extended Validation certificate (EV) is the highest of available SSL certificates. Although all SSLs use almost same powerful encryption technique, but to get EV you require accurate selection process. We can say that all the levels differ in process of identity verification and how the particular certificate is displayed. Once you get EV SSL certificate, you get a green address bar, which gives the feeling of security to all the visitors of that particular website.

How to get EV certificate and how it provides security?

To get EV SSL Certificate, you have to go through global standardized identification process, which is a verification process that gives exclusive rights to use a domain by confirming the legality, physical existence and authenticity of the company. All the information along with the name of the company and location is included in the EV certificate. Once you get EV Certificate, HTTPS and padlock in the browser address bar is activated along with the name of the verified website owner. It gives secure feeling to the visitor to perform financial transactions.

Green address bar

If a company has EV SSL Certificate, its address bar (padlock), https, company name and country will be green in color. If the connection is partially encrypted, then the browser will issue a warning message which will indicate that the domain is not fully secured and can be hacked by a third party or hacker. For a domain which is fully secure or has a higher level of SSL certificate, green padlock is shown. If, in case, content is loaded over http rather than https, green address bar will not be shown, which indicates that connection is not fully secure. 

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Standard SSL help your Local business’s SEO Rank to Improve on Google

About SSL

SSL is a Secure Socket Layer, which helps in securing data from being misused or modified by any third party by establishing encrypted link between the browser and the server or between servers. This link ensures that the data that is being transferred/shared between the server and the browser remains private and secure.


What is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. As it is a known fact that with more traffic on a particular website leads to a better ranking of that particular website. SEO helps in getting traffic from search engines to websites when a query is entered by the user in search engine in order to find answer to his/her query. SEO is a technique through which it becomes easier to locate your website and rank it higher than any other websites covering the same topic.

How SEO Rank can be improved for our website/local business?

Let’s understand this in a simpler way. Whenever we have a query in our mind, we tend to search it online with the help of any search engine. When we type our query, a list of results show up on our screen and out of all those results most of the time we choose the very first result. We do so because the first website shown as a result of our query tends to be more appropriate or relevant than other websites or web pages. The website ranked better will be shown prior to the websites whose ranking is not that good as compared to the website which is ranked top most. SEO is the marketing technique of web, which helps in improving the ranking of websites and helps in diverting traffic to your website from search engines.

Does SSL help?

Although SSL helps in providing security, but is it equally good for improving SEO ranking of local business? Let’s discuss it in detail to understand better-
  • Google (search engine) gives preference to webpages with https:// over http:// if the searched article in both the website is appropriate and relevant.
  • SSL certificate can cost you more if your website is huge; as the cost can increase radically, depending upon the amount of data transferred an if it is encrypted. If your business is not at a large scale, the cost of SSL certificate might affect your budget.

If you own local business and want to go for SSL Security   to improve SEO ranking, consider above mentioned points and make a wise decision.

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

5 Ways to Improve Internet Security and Protect Computer Security

Security is the first thing that we want as soon as we connect to any website. Even as a business owner, our main goal is to spread our business beyond local market and rapid growth of our business. To do so, first thing that you have to take care, as a business owner, is internet security. If a website succeeds in gaining trust and loyalty of its customer, the business is sure to improve. Every customer is conscious about sharing data and doing financial transaction as there are chances of data being misused by a third party. If something goes wrong, not just the customer is affected but the company is touched too.


We can take a few steps to improve Internet security as well as build good reputation among customers:

Password manager: Normally we use the same password for our email account, online banking, online business etc., which becomes easier for hacker to crack it down and manipulate data and misuse it. That is why password manager is required. It not only generates a strong password for websites you visit, but also stores them in vault, in encrypted form, with a single main/master password. Advantage of using Password manager:
  • Password generated is not crackable
  • Unique password for every website
Online store encryption: SSL certificate is used to protect/secure data of website users, but there might be a case where http:// unencrypted protocol is used while checking out process by other traffic to ecommerce website. To protect your data, all you have to do is click on “Activate Comodo SSL Certificate” in your Shopify account; this will encrypt your online store. Once the SSL Certificate is activated, all the traffic on your website will be redirected to https:// instead of http://. In this way you can provide complete security to your customer data.

Two-Step Authentication: To take internet security to another level, two step authentications is used. For every login attempt, it will require two-piece information: your account password and a single-use authentication code (which is sent to the user via SMS or any other authenticator application). There are chances that someone would crack down your password, but without single-use authentication, which is sent on your device, he/she will not be able to login.

Device encryption: If your passwords are saved or auto filled, and if someone have access to your device, such as mobile, laptop, computer system etc, it becomes difficult to protect your data. Encryption is the only way, you can protect your data even if the device is unlocked or password is saved in the device. We can hide the data with encryption so that nobody can read it without knowing the password. Even if somebody gains access to your device, your important and sensitive information will remain secure and protected.

Software update:
It is important to keep your system updated; which includes operating system, web browser, and computer software. Updation also avoids risk of clicking any fake link or risk links.

Monday, February 19, 2018

Most Important WordPress Security Topics for 2018 In USA

 WordPress is an open source content management system and almost all the websites are powered by it. It is important to know about WordPress SSL security as it makes huge impact on website and its owner. Around 20,000 websites are blacklisted every week globally because of malware or any other security threats or violations. Every website owner should be aware of security threats and should be able to keep his/her website away from such threats for smooth running of website.
 


WordPress is highly secure software in itself but auditing is needed on regular bases for detecting any kind of loop hole, if present. There are six important things that should be kept in mind in order to reduce the risk of security breach and stay away from being blacklisted. Especially, if you own an e-commerce site, information like personal details, credit card details can be stolen and can be misused or website can be hacked and can go down for quite a long time, which in turn will have bad impact on your business. Due to such reasons you should pay special attention to WordPress standard ssl security.


We will now discuss about few WordPress security topics:


Updating WordPress: When we talk about Wordpress websites, it comes along with hundreds and thousands of plugins and themes. It is important to keep these plugins and the website updated in order to keep the website secure. These themes generally come from third-party developer and are updated and released on a regular basis.

Password: In order to stay away and secure from hackers, it is important to make use of unique and strong password. A strong password makes it difficult for hackers to crack it. Make sure that the password that you use is not used for any other account. If you cannot remember different passwords, use any of the professional password managers to remember your password and keep it safe.

Hosting WordPress: Hosting service is the most important role played by WordPress website. A reputed and shared hosting provider takes some important measures to protect servers against common threats. In share hosting, server resources are shared with other customers and this increases the risk of cross site contamination which makes it easier for hacker to hack your website, if he/she succeeds in hacking any of your neighbor’s sites. Whereas, managed WordPress hosting is much more secure and it also offers automatic backups, updates as well as advanced security configuration.

Web application firewall: WAF (Web Application Firewall) is one of the easiest ways to secure and safeguard your website. Almost all the malicious traffic or malware can be blocked by the use of firewalls even before they attempt to reach the website you own.

Backup solution: Backup is one of the most important defenses against any kind of WordPress attack, as your website can be restored completely even if it has been attacked. Although you might have taken best security measures to run your site safely but, nothing is completely secured. So it is important to install backup plugins.

Security plugins: After backup, next thing is security plugins which is important to keep the website safe. Security plugins audit and monitor your site and will keep track of various things like failed login attempts, scanning of malware etc.