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May 20, 2009 Comments closed

How to secure your website using SSL Certificate?

in ssl certificates

Secure Socket Layer Certificate which is known as SSL Certificate provides a level of security and privacy for those wishing to conduct secure transactions over the Internet. Introduced to the Internet market by Netscape Communications, the SSL protocol protects HTTP transmissions over the Internet by adding a layer of encryption. This insures that your transactions are not subject to “sniffing” by a third party.

SSL provides visitors to your website with the confidence to communicate securely via an encrypted session. For companies wishing to conduct secure e-commerce, such as receiving credit card numbers or other sensitive information online, SSL is essential.

For SSL to work a valid signed SSL certificate is essential. Certificates are a standard way of binding a public key to a name. Public key encryption is a tactic that uses a pair of asymmetric keys for encryption and decryption. Each pair of keys consists of a public key and a private key. The public key is made public by distributing it widely. The private key is never distributed; it is always kept secret. Data that is encrypted with the public key can be decrypted only with the private key. Conversely, data encrypted with the private key can be decrypted only with the public key. This asymmetry makes public key cryptography so useful.

You can generate a self-signed certificate and use it for some time until the certificate “signed” by a trusted external authority.

To enable SSL for your website with self-signed certificate:

1. Click on the Site tab;
2. Select Website Settings. Your website General Settings appear on the screen;
3. Click the Secure Website tab. The secure website summary appears on the screen;
4. Click the Generate a Request button. The certificate-request form appears on the screen;
5. Fill the form:
1. Select your country of residence from the Country drop-down menu. If needed, scroll the list;
2. Select your State from the State (US or Canada) drop-down menu;
3. Or type your State in the State (other countries) textbox;
4. Type your city or town of residence in the Locality textbox;
5. Type your company name in the Organization name textbox;
6. You can optionally type your company branch or affiliate name in the Organization unit name textbox;
7. Type your website name in the Site name textbox;
6. Click the Submit button. The updated secure website summary appears on the screen: now both the certificate request and private key exists, but the secure website is not available because the SSL certificate is absent;

Note: Do not forget to backup your private key: click the SSL private key details link (the private key content will appear in popup window) and copy your private key content to a file.

7. Click the Generate the SSL Certificate button. In a few seconds the screen reloads with the updated secure website summary: now the certificate is in place and the secure website is available;

8. Click the Enable SSL button.

To send a certificate request to an external certificate authority (if certificate request is already generated and the private key saved, as described in steps 1 -7 above):

1. Click on the Site tab. Website general settings appear on the screen;
2. Select Secure Website tab. The secure website summary appears on the screen;
3. Click the SSL certificate request details link. The content of certificate request appears in the popup window;
4. Copy the certificate request content in a file and send it to the certificate authority.

To import an SSL certificate signed by a certificate authority:

1. Click on the Site tab;
2. Select Website Settings. Your website general settings appear on the screen;
3. Click the Secure Website tab. The secure website summary appears on the screen;
4. Click the Install the SSL Certificate button. The form for SSL certificate importing appears on the screen;
5. Do one of the following:
1. Type the path to a file containing the SSL certificate in the Certificate file name textbox or click the Browse button to locate the file;
2. Or paste the certificate content in the Certificate content textbox;
6. Click the Submit button. The secure website summary appears on the screen;
7. Click the Enable SSL button.

To import both your backup SSL certificate and private key:

1. Click on the Site tab;
2. Select Website Settings. Your website general settings appear on the screen;
3. Click the Secure Website tab. Secure website summary appears on the screen;
4. Click the Install the SSL Files button. The form for both the SSL key and certificate importing appears on the screen;
5. Submit the key and certificate:
1. Type the path to a file containing the private key the Private key file name textbox (click the Browse button to locate the file) or paste the private key content in the Private key content textbox;
2. Type the path to a file containing the SSL certificate in the Certificate file name textbox (click the Browse button to locate the file) or paste the certificate content in the Certificate content textbox;
6. Click the Submit button. The secure website summary appears on the screen;
7. Click the Enable SSL button.

Notes:

Netscape and Mozilla browsers automatically detect whether a website uses encryption of transmitted data or not (as for Internet Explorer, please encourage your website visitors who use IE to use Internet Explorer 5.0 or later). Thus, if you use a self-signed certificate, your website visitors will be notified that your website uses encryption, but the authority that signed a certificate is not recognized. So if you intend to conduct e-commerce at your website, it is better to obtain an SSL certificate signed by VeriSign or Thwate

Secure website can be enabled only for IP-based website (i.e., a website that does not share an IP address with other websites). So if you have several websites on your server and only one IP address – any of these sites (but only one of them) can be SSL-capable. Go for GeoTrust Wildcard Certificate.