: Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
SSL provides a level of security and privacy for those wishing to conduct secure transactions over the Internet. Introduced to the Internet market by Netscape Communications, the SSL protocol protects HTTP transmissions over the Internet by adding a layer of encryption. This insures that your transactions are not subject to "sniffing" by a third party.

SSL provides visitors to your web site with the confidence to communicate securely via an encrypted session. For companies wishing to conduct serious e-commerce, such as receiving credit card numbers or other sensitive information, SSL is a must. To find out more about how SSL works, please refer to the Introduction to Public Key Cryptography document authored by Netscape Communications.

While SSL handles the encryption part of a secure HTTP transaction, a Digital Certificate is necessary to provide server authentication. Ordering SSL for your site is an easy task, read about using Speedsoft's Digital Certificate and the prices involved. However, securing a Digital Certificate of your own is a more intricate (and sometimes complicated) process. A separate document describes Digital Certificates in detail.

Speedsoft offers SSL as an add-on enhancement feature for its Virtual Hosting Server System - a nominal setup fee is required (please see the SSL Price Schedule for complete price information).

For the purchase of your Digital Certificate, we suggest Verisign. Click on the banner to the right to purchase a digital certificate from them.

Accessing Your Secure Server
You can access any of your web content (documents, images, scripts, etc) on your Virtual Server securely by using the "https://" prefix rather than the "http://" prefix. For example, to send the contents of a fill-out-form securely to one of your CGI scripts, you would include something like the following in your HTML source:

    <form method="POST"
          action="https://www.YOUR-DOMAIN.NAME/cgi-bin/script.cgi">

You should be sure that once you enter secure mode that you do not reference embedded document content (images, etc) by an insecure prefix (i.e. src="http://www.YOUR-DOMAIN.NAME/image.gif").