A SSL Certificate is a digital certificate that authenticates the identity of a Web site to visiting browsers and encrypts information for the server via Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. Encryption is the process of scrambling data into an undecipherable format — ciphertext — that can only be returned to a readable format with the proper decryption key.
A certificate serves as an electronic "passport" that establishes an online entity’s credentials when doing business on the Web. When an Internet user attempts to send confidential information to a Web server, the user’s browser will access the server’s digital certificate and establish a secure connection.
A SSL Certificate contains the following information:
The certificate holder’s name
The certificate’s serial number and expiration date
A copy of the certificate holder’s public key
The digital signature of the certificate-issuing authority
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