SSL Certificates

What is SSL?
SSL (Secure Socket Layers) was developed by Netscape to protect the transmission of private documents and information (such as credit card numbers or personal identification) across the Internet.

This technology uses digital certificates to confirm identity and bits of code called public and private keys to encrypt communications between the server (i.e. the website) and client (i.e. the user). The resulting private exchange of information is extremely difficult for others to interpret. This process is called the SSL Handshake.

What are the issues that digital certificates address?
Digital certificates and public key infrastructure address four issues.

• Confidentiality - was the information received only by the intended recipient?


• Authenticity - was the information sent by the person claiming to be the sender?


• Integrity - was the information altered en route to the recipient?


• Binding agreements - can a sender claim that the information received by the intended recipient was never sent? Is this a legally binding document?

How does the SSL Handshake work?
The first part of the SSL Handshake is the client validating the server and then sending the encrypted information, followed by the authentication of the client by the server, and the decoding of the transmitted data. When the client contacts the server, both ends create a unique pair of digital keys, called public and private keys, which are used to encrypt and decode information transferred between them. Upon contact both the server and client attach their public keys to their digital certificates, then send them to each other. The encrypted data is then attached to the public keys and sent back to the original computer. When the private key recognizes the public key, the data is decoded. This process ensures that even if a third party intercepts the data transmission, it won't be able to decode the data.

Why am I getting a 'Certificate does not match domain name' error?
If your certificate has already been installed then the most probable cause is that you are accessing your site without the "www." For example, the domain valueweb.net must be accessed via https://www.valueweb.net [www is required for the SSL certificate to function without a warning.]

Why am I getting a 'You have requested a document that contains insecure information' warning?
Linking to insecure documents/images from your page will cause this warning. For example, if your HTML code contains a link to an image <img src="http://www.yourdomain/image.jpg">, within the secure "https://www.yourdomain/order.html", it will cause an error. Alternatives are to use relative URLs [i.e. <img src="image.jpg">] or secure URLs [i.e. <img src="https://www.yourdomain/image.jpg">. You should not link to images on another web site from a secure document on your web site.

How do I make a change to my certificate? Are they refundable?
Once a certificate has been issued, changes cannot be made, so you should make sure that all the information for your certificate is 100% correct before you submit your request. Be sure to ask any questions you may have before you initiate the process. If you discover a mistake after submitting, you will need to submit a new request and pay for the certificate again. There are no refunds on a certificate; all sales are final.