What Is An SSL (Secure Socket Layer)?

• The first purpose is to encrypt communication between the web server and the web browser of the visitor. This ensures any content being transmitted to the web server is encrypted and any malicious interception would be rendered pointless as the data would be fully encrypted with only the web server being able to decrypt it.

• The second purpose of an SSL certificate is authentication. As an SSL certificate is issued by a 3rd party company, a level of validation is performed to make sure the certificate is generated only for the domain it is intended for and that you have control over. When a potential customer visits your website, their browser will automatically try to authenticate the certificate with the CA (certificate authority) to make sure any data sent to the web server is being sent to the intended target and not a spoofed server.