Cryptography ensures that data is transmitted in a means that only the intended party can access it. You can easily determine a site which has an SSL certificate by the padlock icon that is displayed beside the web address. So how do SSL certificates work? SSL in full is Secure Sockets Layer. An SSL certificate provides tight security during the exchange of data.
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| PadLock Icon Showing SSL Security |
In SSL cryptography, encryption makes use of separate keys for the decryption and encryption of data. Encryption keys are public and anyone can use them. But thedecryption keys (ones used to turn encrypted data into meaningful information) are private and are kept secret. The SSL certificate, on the other hand, can simply be described as a tiny data file that has the appropriate information about a certain website. The information can be quickly read by the host connection once the request for connection is received. It is through an SSL that a website can prove its authenticity to a web browser.