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For most people, online security is a topic of remembering a few passwords and scanning for viruses. Most relations from a home computer to a Web server have no protection whatsoever, but there is one facet of the online experience that has permanently been security-conscious, and that’s shopping (”e-commerce,” if you prefer). E-commerce sites have an incentive to protect themselves, as well as their customers, so if you want to know about online security, they’re a fantastic place to start.Today’s e-commerce sites have, pretty much en masse, adopted Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to protect both their customer’s credit card data, as well as their own information. You can typically see when SSL is being used, as the URL will have an “s” added to the “http,” docile “https” previous to the “www” and/or the site’s domain name. Most new browsers will also show a small lock icon somewhere in the committed window, while some highlight the total URL entry field (one with bright green) to indicate that an SSL connection is being made.The SSL CertificateOn the technology side, SSL is a way to make and maintain an encrypted connection between computers and Web servers. All the data going both directions across an SSL connection is encrypted, making it safe against casual (or amateur) sleuthing or snooping. Previous to such a connection can be made between a browser-equipped PC and a Web server, an SSL Certificate is necessary as it carries the information, in the form of “keys,” to enable the special communication.After obtaining and installing your SSL Certificate, you will be provided with two numbers, known as “keys.” The first is the “confidential key” known only by your Web server, and the second is the “public key” that, theoretically at least, everyone can get. Computers that connect to your Web site (via your server, genuinely) can send you messages that your public key encrypts, and your server decrypts them with the confidential one. The entire process is transparent to the users, as the Web server and the remote browser handle all the details involuntarily.Both keys are needed, at the right points in the connection process, to ensure a secure, SSL-encrypted connection. Your public key is placed in a file called a “Certificate Signing Question for,” a simple data file with Web server information and the public key. The CSR is unreservedly available to everyone, enabling worldwide relations to your site with SSL protection.Consider it “value added”Even if you don’t sell bits and pieces on the Web, you may be obtaining customer information for other reasons, information that is sensitive and deserves protection. Of course, if you are doing sales, you have credit card numbers and bank routing information. Either way, you need an SSL Certificate. Even users who are not reasonably savoir-faire enough to know what SSL stands for are learning what that extra “s” in the address field means, and know that the small lock icon means extra protection.There is other information that is valuable to your firm, too, so if you provide network access or applications to your customers – so opening yourself up to snooping and such – you also need an SSL Certificate. What goes on between you and your customers, not to mention what is going on with your research and development, is nobody else’s business, particularly your business competitors. If your firm has multiple locations, or employees who sign on to your system in the least, VPN (Virtual Confidential Network) software can protect you, but an SSL Certificate is evenly simpler and less costly.Putting it togetherSSL Certificates are handled as a part of the WWW infrastructure by “Certificate Authorities” that issue SSL Certificates to companies and organizations (really, individuals can apply for them, too). When applying for one, you give domain name information, and for some levels of SSL Certificates you also give company information. The Certificate will have an expiration date and identifying information about the issuing Certificate Authority, which could even be your Internet Service Provider (ISP) act as Certificate Authorities – but it doesn’t much topic, as an SSL Certificate can be issued to any domain, wherever it’s hosted.The simplest, most basic SSL Certificate is one that you can obtain with confirmation of only your domain name, and you can usually get this kind in a topic of minutes. The next amount up requires company information, and sometimes information on company principals. Expenditure for SSL Certificates depend on a number of factors, such as the Certificate Authority, the type you want and whether you get it as part of a package deal. There are many ISPs and domain registrars providing all types of SSL Certificates, and customers connecting to your Web server won’t know which type you have, even if the data in your CSR will differ accordingly.Besides the obvious reasons of safety and security, having an SSL Certificate makes an vital statement to your customers. It means you take their business and their privacy seriously, that you care enough to go the extra mile and secure your site, your business – and your customer’s  business, too.