The Effectiveness Of Ssl Certificates For Ecommerce Websites

Buying and selling on the internet has been growing at an astronomical rate over the last 15 years. This year alone, an estimated 173 billion in online sales will take place in just the United States alone. This amount of sales is approximately 7% of all sales that take place in the US. With this massive sales number, the internet is ripe for scammers and thieves to try to steal credit card numbers and personal information. This is where the use of an SSL certificate comes into play.

In order to understand how all of this ecommerce grows each year without major breaches in security, one must understand what an SSL certificate does. First off, the certificate ensures that the website owners are who they claim to be. Second, your browser checks this certificate to make sure its valid and that the exact certificate being presented is related to the site being contacted. Once done, the certificate will create an encrypted transaction between your computer and the website using a public/private key combination.

The two main networks running the internet are Linux/Unix based and Windows based. For those networks that run Windows server software, customers must install an IIS SSL certificate. This certificate is designed to work with the internet information services manager, or IIS manager. Implementing and installing an IIS SSL certificate is a bit different than other networks, but still not that complicated. Once installed, this certificate performs the same duties as a regular SSL certificate that might be used on Linux/Unix based networks.

The advantage to using an IIS SSL certificate comes from the site owner's expertise in installing and maintaining Windows based networks. There are many tasks that must be done manually on Linux which are automated or easier on Windows networks. Configuring a windows based network is inherently easier than Linux, which requires installing and maintaining multiple packages, not to mention tons of arcane commands. This is especially true when it comes to patching security vulnerabilities and updates. Windows server networks are much faster and easier to patch vs their Linux counterparts.

Whichever route you choose to take, it is vitally important that every ecommerce site employ an SSL certificate. It tells the consumer that you care about their security. I would also imagine that not having one in place will result in lost sales. I for one will not purchase anything from a website unless I see the "https:" in the browser. The "s" at the end tells me its secure, and they have an SSL certificate installed.

By: Oliver Macpherson

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Oliver is a passionate web security analyst who likes to advertise the best ways to safeguard business websites. Oliver works for a company who sell IIS SSL certificate under retail price, as well as low cost SSL certificates in the UK. For more information please visit, ssl247.co.uk, who offer geotrust SSL online.