User Manual

Cybersecurity Basics

SSL Certificates

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How many domain names can be secured

Most SSL server certificates will only secure a single domain name or subdomain. For

example, a certificate could secure www.yourdomain.com or mail.yourdomain.com but

not both. The certificate will still work on a different domain name, but the web browser

will give an error anytime it sees that the address in the address bar does not match

the domain name (called a common name) in the certificate. If you need to secure

multiple subdomains on a single domain name, you can buy a wildcard certificate. For

a wildcard certificate, a common name of *.yourdomain.com would secure

www.yourdomain.com, mail.yourdomain.com, secure.yourdomain.com, and so on.

There are also special certificates such as Unified Communications (UC) or Multi-

Domain SSL certificates that can secure several different domain names in one

certificate.

Trust seal

A trust seal is a logo that you can display on your website that verifies that you have

been validated by a specific certificate provider and you are using their SSL certificate

to secure your site. It can be displayed on secure and non-secure pages and is most

appropriate on pages where customers are about to enter their personal information

such as a shopping cart page, but they can be displayed on every page to help build

trust. Every certificate authority's trust seal is different and some look more

professional so you should consider what the seal looks like in order to maximize the

customer’s trust.

Some things to keep in mind

When choosing the right SSL provider, consider the fact that users’ web browsers

normally keep a cached list of trusted CAs on file – so if a digital certificate is signed

by an entity that is not on the approved list, the browser will send a warning message

to the user that the website may not be trustworthy.

How visitors know a site has an SSL certificate

There are four visual clues:

1. Padlock to the left of the URL

2. https URL prefix instead of http

3. A trust seal

4. A green address bar (when an EV SSL certificate is issued)

How to Get an SSL Certificate

You can get an SSL certificate from any authorized Certificate Authority (CA) to

secure the communication between two systems.

There are two ways to get an SSL certificate:

1. Buy a certificate from CA.

2. Get a free certificate from a non-profit open CA.