What are digital certificates?

e-commerce flourished due to the ability to make secure transactions online using the right tools. These tools are encrypted public keys and digital certificates.

Public key encryption uses SSL (Secure Sockets layer) to encrypt all data between the customer's computer and the website of electronic trading. The information is sent in the encrypted form to the web using the publication key. Upon receiving information, the website uses its private key to decrypt the information . This is called a few keys . Interlopers who could capture data on the road consider it unreadable.

But the problem is that anyone can create a site and a few keys using a name that doesn't belong to them. This is where digital certificates come. Digital certificates are credible identification cards in electronic form that bind the key of public encryption of the website to their identity for public confidence.

Digital certificates are issued by independent, reconnaissance and mutually trusted third party, which guarantees that the site runs what it claims to be. This third party is known as Certification Authority (CA) . Without digital certificates, the public has only a small frame in terms of the legitimacy of any specific site.

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digital certificate contains, among other things, the name, address, serial number, serial number, public key, expiration date and digital signature. When a web browser, such as Firefox, Netscape or Internet Explorer, creates a secure connection, the digital certificate is automatically converted to review. The browser checks it in terms of anomalies or problems and, if found, will discover the warning. When digital certificates are OK, the browser will complete the secure connection without interruption.

Although rare, there are cases of fraud with phishinGU duplicate the web and the "kidnapping" of the digital CE weburtify to deceive customers to give up personal data. These frauds included the customer's redirection to the actual site to verify and then brought them back to the deceived website. Other phishing frauds use digital certificates signed to completely liquidate a trusted third party or certification office. The digital certificate issuer and signatories are one of the same. In this case, it will notify the browser, but most users click anyway, they do not understand the difference.

digital certificates play an integral role in maintaining the safety of online store. If your browser alerts you to a digital certificate problem, you are well recommended no click. Instead, call the company using your phone number from your commands or phone books and ask for a problem.

Not all certificates are the same. Some CAs are newer and less known. Two examples of highly trustworthy CAs are verisign and tHawte. If your browser is a certification authority, it will notify you.