Secure website with SSL Certificate

In my previous article, I talked about my migration to OVH and explained the reasons. The main one was to be able to offer ssl certificates on my clients' sites. Through this article I will explain the interest you have in installing one on your website.

What is an SSL certificate?

Do you see the little icon at the top right of the site url, which says "this site is secure" with a small padlock? Well that's what an SSL certificate allows. It is a secure channel between the client and the server. It prevents malicious people from retrieving sensitive data that you communicate with the website.

Un site web sécurisé par certificat SSL possède une URL non plus en HTTP mais en HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure). Il combine du HTTP avec un chiffrement SSL. Le HTTPS est particulièrement utile sur les réseaux non cryptés (Réseaux publiques, Wi-Fi) qui sont très sensibles au piratage.

SSL (abréviation de Secure Socket Layer) est un protocole qui a été crée par Netscape et Mastercard dans le but de sécuriser les transactions effectuées sur le web. C'est aujourd’hui le standard technologique de sécurité pour crypter les communications entre un navigateur et un serveur web.

Without Protection

With Protection

The advantages of an SSL certificate

It secures the exchange of information

It reassures your visitors

It improves your SEO

How much does it cost?

There are several types of SSL certificates with different levels of security, but you should know that installing an SSL certificate on your website does not necessarily have to be paid for.

Let's Encrypt (abbreviated LE) is a certification authority launched on December 3, 2015 (Beta Public Version). This authority provides free X.509 certificates for the TLS cryptographic protocol by means of an automated process to bypass the current complex process involving manual creation, validation, signing, installation and renewal of certificates for the securing websites 1. In September 2016, more than 10 million certificates were issued. In April 2018, Let's encrypt provides 51.21% of SSL certificates (source: wikipedia).