SSL Digital Certificates

Simplex is a partner of  VeriSign and Thawte for Cyprus and can offer their entire range of SSL certificates as well as SSL certificates of their subsidiaries GeoTrust and RapidSSL.  Among the certificates that Simplex can offer are VeriSign's Secure Site, Secure Site Pro, Secure Site with EV (Extended Validation), Secure Site Pro with EV, Thawte's SSL123 certificates, SSL web server certificates, SGC SuperCerts, SSL wildcard web server certificates, code signing certificates and SSL web server certifcates with EV.  In all cases, VeriSign's or Thawte's trusted site seal acts as a proof of the website’s trusted status and of that users may transact safely and securely.

Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is a protocol developed by Netscape in 1996 which quickly became the method of choice for securing data transmissions across the Internet. SSL is an integral part of most web browsers and web servers and makes use of the public-and-private key encryption system developed by RSA, which is the strongest encryption system ever developed.

In order to make an SSL connection, the SSL protocol requires that a server should have a digital certificate installed. A digital certificate is an electronic file that uniquely identifies a server and its owner. Digital certificates serve as a kind of digital passport or credential which authenticate the server prior to the SSL session being established.
 
There are two main online security problems that digital certificates solve: 
  • Authentication – proving a company's (or server's) identity online and in so doing create a sense of trust and confidence in using a website.
  • Encryption - offering protection for the data submitted to a website (or between servers) so that in the event of interception, it will be unintelligible without the unique key used for decryption.

Solving these security problems allows online businesses to protect themselves against the following scenarios:
  • Spoofing - The low cost of website design and ease with which existing pages can be copied makes it all too easy to create illegitimate sites that appear to be published by established organizations. In fact, con artists have illegally obtained credit card numbers by setting up professional-looking storefronts that mimic legitimate businesses.
  • Unauthorized Disclosure – when information is transmitted in the clear, making it possible for hackers to intercept the transmissions and obtain sensitive information from customers.
  • Data alteration - the content of a transaction can be intercepted and altered en route, either maliciously or accidentally. User names, credit card and social security numbers as well as currency amounts, indeed any information sent in the clear is all vulnerable to alteration.

So what are the practical applications of digital certificates?

Firstly, looking at categories of data, the most common deployment is for securing transmission of financial information in e-commerce, e-banking, online stock and forex trading, etc.. However, with incidence of identity theft on the rise, protecting the transmission of a broad range of personally identifiable information is becoming ever more important. This category of data would include identity and social security numbers, e-mail addresses and demographic information as well as registration and login processes of online services and applications. In terms of applications and protocols, RapidSSL, GeoTrust , Thawte and VeriSign SSL certificates can be used to secure the following:
  • Web Servers
  • Mail Servers
  • Databases
  • FTP Sites
  • Internet Chat
  • NNTP
  • VPN (Virtual Private Networks).

Why buy through Simplex?

The issue and renewal process of an SSL certificate can be cumbersome. You need a CSR (Certifcate Signing Request), you need certain documents proving the identity of the owning company, etc. Simplex will guide and help you throughout the whole process, handling all communication with the Certification Authority (i.e. VeriSign or Thawte), saving your time and making the issue or renewal of your certificate as simple, quick and smooth as possible. And all this without charging you anything more than the price at which you would buy directly and in many cases, even less.
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