An SSL certificate is a digital credential that secures website connections, ensuring data encryption and authenticity.
In the last three decades, the internet has expanded into an omni-present tool for enhancing human capability, knowledge and entertainment. With its power to accomplish such a range of tasks, it can be easy to forget that, at its heart, the internet is essentially a communications tool, facilitating the exchange of vast amounts of digital information worldwide. Any time a user types a query into a search engine, makes an online purchase or simply logs into a digital account, they are sending and receiving data through various networks.
Unfortunately, that data does not always arrive unhindered: Unauthorised malicious actors may position themselves at various stages in the information-exchange process, gaining access to potentially sensitive personal information, including credit card numbers, login credentials and personally identifiable information. Secure socket layer (SSL) is an internet security protocol designed to prevent digital ‘eavesdroppers’ from accessing, capturing or altering data in transit. As such, SSL (along with its successor protocol, TLS) certificates have become essential parts of modern data security.
The origin of SSL can be traced back to the earliest days of the public internet. When the World Wide Web first entered the public domain in the early 1990s, information sent and received across this emerging digital channel was transferred in ‘plain text’ format, lacking any real form of encryption security. It soon became apparent that the transmission of unsecured information represented a clear threat to users. In response, in 1995, Netscape developed and released their secure sockets layer protocol.
SSL quickly became the standard in website security and internet transactions. However, security vulnerabilities were eventually discovered within the SSL protocol. In response, an improved variation on the SSL protocol was released in 1999: transport layer security (TLS).
While SSL played a pivotal role in advancing internet data encryption and authentication, its vulnerabilities were too extensive to address through subsequent versions. Instead, TLS was released in 1999. Building on the foundation created by SSL, TLS was designed to perform a similar function in terms of encryption and authentication for secure communication, but with improved security features, stronger encryption algorithms and enhanced protection against those vulnerabilities that plagued SSL.
Key differences between SSL and TLS include:
- TLS incorporates more advanced cryptographic algorithms to establish a secure method for managing authentication and exchanging data.
- Although more secure than SSL, TLS actually represents a less complex data-authentication process, allowing for a faster digital connection.
- TLS supports more robust and secure cipher suites, enhancing data encryption.
While SSL was groundbreaking in its time, TLS represents the modern and more secure evolution of the cryptographic protocols used to safeguard internet communication. Today, TLS is the standard for secure data transmission, ensuring a safer online experience for users and businesses alike. Despite this, the major breakthrough in website security represented by SSL lives on in the terminology. Even today, more than 20 years after the initial release of TLS, the term SSL is still commonly used to describe modern internet protocols. Here, for consistency’s sake, we will be primarily using SSL to refer to both SSL and TLS; just be aware that modern internet communications rely almost exclusively on TLS.
An SSL certificate is a digital credential that plays a pivotal role in establishing secure connections over the internet, serving as a trust indicator and ensuring data encryption and authentication during online interactions. Taking the form of small data files, SSL certificates link a cryptographic key to an organisation’s details. When installed on a web server, they encrypt information in the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), enabling hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) and ensuring safe connections between the server and a browser. HTTPS connections are represented in web browser address bars by a padlock icon and the letters ‘https’ before the website URL.
An SSL certificate facilitates effective real-time encryption, decryption and verification of digital information transmitted over the internet. To achieve this, the SSL certificate contains crucial elements used to establish website authenticity and enable secure data exchange between users and servers. This information includes:
- Domain name
The SSL certificate is bound to a specific domain name, which identifies the website that it is issued for. This domain name ensures that the certificate is only valid for the designated website and cannot be used maliciously on other domains. - Certificate authority
The certificate authority (CA) is the entity responsible for issuing and digitally signing the SSL certificate. CAs are trusted third-party organisations that validate the identity of the website owner and confirm the ownership of the domain. - Digital signature
To ensure the integrity and authenticity of the SSL certificate, the CA attaches a digital signature to the certificate. This digital signature is a cryptographic stamp that confirms the certificate’s origin and validity - Issuance date
The SSL certificate includes an issuance date, indicating when it was issued by the certificate authority. This information is relevant for tracking the validity period of the certificate. - Expiry date
SSL certificates have a finite validity period, typically ranging from a few months to several years. The expiry date in the certificate specifies when the certificate will no longer be valid. After this date, the certificate must be renewed or replaced to continue providing secure connections. - Public key
An essential component of the SSL certificate is the public key. This key is used for encrypting data during the SSL handshake process, establishing a secure connection between the user’s browser and the web server. - SSL version
The SSL certificate indicates the version of the protocol that the website supports. This ensures compatibility between the browser and the web server, enabling a secure communication channel using the appropriate encryption algorithms.
SSL certification involves a series of steps that establish a secure and encrypted connection between a web server and a user’s browser. This process is generally referred to as the SSL ‘handshake’, with both sides exchanging information to acknowledge and verify one another, agree on a protocol version, and to finally establish which cryptographic algorithms they will use as they communicate. The specific steps involved in this process may vary depending on the algorithm being used, but every SSL handshake will include some variation on the following stages:
The SSL handshake begins when a user attempts to access a website secured with TLS. The user’s browser sends a connection request to the web server.
The web server, upon receiving the request, sends back its TLS certificate to the user’s browser. This certificate contains the server’s public key, organisational details and digital signature from a trusted certificate authority.
The user’s browser verifies the SSL certificate’s authenticity. It checks the digital signature against the CA’s root certificate embedded within the browser. If the certificate is valid and was issued by a trusted CA, the verification process proceeds.
Next, the browser generates session keys – a unique symmetric pair of encryption keys called the ‘public key’ and ‘private key’. The public key is used to verify the digital signatures, while the private key decrypts the rest of the session data. New keys are generated with each new session.
The browser sends the session key encrypted with the server’s public key back to the web server.
With the session key now shared, both the user’s browser and the web server use it to encrypt and decrypt data transmitted during the session. This ensures that any data intercepted by malicious actors remains unintelligible.
When the user concludes their interaction with the website, the SSL session is terminated and the session keys are discarded.
One doesn’t have to look far to see the damage that can be done when personal or business data is compromised. SSL represents an essential line of defence around the information exchanged across digital networks, making it an integral part in maintaining a secure and trustworthy online presence. By encrypting data and verifying the authenticity of websites, SSL certificates offer several far-reaching advantages:
SSL certification helps safeguard sensitive information exchanged between users and web servers. When information is transmitted over a secured connection, it becomes encrypted, making it nearly impossible for malicious actors to intercept and decipher the data. This level of data protection is vital in the face of ever-evolving cyberthreats.
As mentioned earlier, websites with SSL certificates display visual indicators, such as a padlock icon and ‘https’ in the address bar. These indicators signal a secure connection, reassuring users that their data is protected during their online interactions. Such trust signals build confidence in customers, encouraging them to share their information, make transactions and engage with the website more willingly.
SSL certification is often a prerequisite for meeting data security regulations and industry standards. By implementing SSL certificates, websites demonstrate their commitment to data security and compliance with relevant regulations. This significantly reduces their risk of violating data protection laws – and of having to face the potentially steep penalties that are attached to those laws.
Google and other search engines consider SSL certification as a ranking factor for search results. Websites with the most up-to-date SSL certificates are more likely to rank higher in search engine results pages, potentially leading to increased visibility and traffic. In fact, without proper SSL configuration, Google will not even allow a user to access a website, instead redirecting them to an error page warning them that the site is not secure. This means that proper SSL certification is not only a security measure, but also a strategic move to enhance online visibility and competitiveness.
A crucial aspect of SSL certification lies in the role of certificate authorities, who are responsible for validating the authenticity of websites and issuing SSL certificates to facilitate secure data exchange. CAs undertake a thorough validation process to establish trust among internet users, ensuring that website owners are genuine and that their domains are secure.
There are three distinct types of SSL certificates, representing three levels of validation:
DV certificates offer the lowest level of identity authentication. They are relatively easy and quick to obtain, making them suitable for basic encryption needs. However, DV certificates provide minimal information about the website owner, and as such, they do not assure users of the website’s legitimacy beyond the domain ownership.
OV certificates provide a higher level of authentication, with CAs performing additional checks to verify the existence and legitimacy of the organisation behind the website. This includes confirming the organisation’s legal status, physical address and contact details. As a result, OV certificates offer improved brand protection and inspire greater user trust.
EV certificates represent the highest standard of identity and brand protection. For these SSL certificates, CAs conduct an extensive vetting process, validating legal existence, physical location and ownership of the organisation. Websites with EV certificates display a prominent green address bar in most browsers, signalling a strong commitment to security and inspiring the highest possible confidence in users.
They say that nothing good lasts forever, and this is certainly true for individual SSL certificates. The SSL certificate lifecycle is a series of crucial stages that govern the creation, issuance, management and eventual expiry or revocation of SSL certificates. This lifecycle may be broken down into the following five stages:
The SSL certificate lifecycle begins when a website owner or administrator initiates a certificate request. During this step, the applicant provides essential information about the domain, organisation and contact details to the certificate authority. This information is necessary for verifying the legitimacy of the requestor and the domain that they wish to secure.
Once the CA has received the certificate request and validated the provided information, it issues the SSL certificate. This certificate contains the public key and other essential details necessary to establish secure connections between users’ browsers and the web server.
After issuance, the CA delivers the SSL certificate to the website owner or administrator. The website owner then installs the certificate on their web server, allowing it to facilitate secure and encrypted communication.
Throughout the certificate’s lifecycle, it is essential to keep close track of all the various certificates installed throughout a network’s end points. The discovery process (also referred to as ‘scanning’) ensures that certificates that are near the end of their lifecycles are identified so that they may be renewed.
As SSL certificates have finite validity periods, they eventually expire and must be renewed. Additionally, in situations where the private key is compromised or the certificate becomes obsolete, certificate revocation becomes necessary. Revoking a certificate invalidates it before its natural expiry, ensuring that it cannot be used maliciously.
Obtaining an SSL certificate is essential for businesses that want to ensure regulatory compliance, secure their online presence and establish trust with their users. The process of acquiring an SSL certificate is not prohibitively complex, but it does include several important stages that must be accounted for before a CA will feel confident issuing certification.
The stages of acquiring an SSL certificate are:
The first step is to determine the type of SSL certificate that best suits the organisation’s needs. Depending on the level of identity authentication and brand protection required, the organisation can choose between DV, OV and EV certificates.
Next, the organisation must choose a reputable and trusted certificate authority to issue their SSL certificate. There are several well-known CAs in the industry, each offering various types of SSL certificates. It is essential to select a CA that aligns with the organisation’s requirements and meets the necessary security standards.
Once the CA has been selected, the organisation submits a certificate request. This request typically involves providing information about the domain name, organisation details and contact information. The CA verifies this information to ensure the legitimacy of the requestor and the domain being secured.
Depending on the type of SSL certificate chosen, the CA may perform varying levels of validation. For DV certificates, the validation process is relatively straightforward, primarily focusing on domain ownership verification. For OV and EV certificates, additional checks are conducted to validate the organisation’s legal existence, physical address and other relevant details.
Finally, upon successful validation, the CA issues the SSL certificate to the organisation along with the associated private key. The organisation then installs the SSL certificate on their web server to enable secure and encrypted connections.
SSL certification is a critical safeguard for online interactions, protecting sensitive data from potential threats. Unfortunately, as the internet continues to evolve, the volume of certificates across businesses is rapidly increasing, making certificate management an ongoing challenge. ServiceNow Certificate Management addresses that challenge head-on.
Certificate Management is a powerful tool for centralising and coordinating certificate management across an entire organisation. With a comprehensive certificate inventory, businesses can easily identify and track all their SSL certificates throughout their infrastructure. The certificate dashboard gives a summary view of all certificates, offering a clear understanding of their status. Additionally, certificate renewal can be automated, ensuring that key data (and business reputation) is safe from the risk of expired certificates falling through the cracks.
In addition, ServiceNow can automate the renewal process of certificates using an automated workflow to reduce the risk of impacting services.
Say goodbye to manual certificate tracking and complicated renewal processes; ServiceNow Certificate Management scales effortlessly, enabling seamless management of SSL certificates in alignment with digital evolution. Schedule a demo today!