A Comodo SSL Certificate is the quickest and most cost effective way for an online business to protect customer transactions. Apart from their low cost, each certificate also comes with a great value-added package, which makes us perfect for small to medium size businesses. Choosing our SSL means your site will enjoy the highest security levels and you'll also receive additional tools that will win customer trust and increase sales conversions.

Why Do I Need an SSL Certificate?

Data transferred in plain-text form or in non-encrypted format can be intercepted, eavesdropped, compromised and stolen. Transactions performed online may involve submitting personal information such as credit card information, social security numbers, usernames and passwords. Cybercriminals who intercept unencrypted communications will gain full access to this data and can use it for fraudulent purchases and activities.

Trust and security are what make people confident enough to provide private, sensitive information online. SSL certificates are what make a website trusted. Organizations must use an SSL certificate to secure their site if they wish to take online payments or expect their visitors to submit confidential information. Apart from building essential trust and security into your website, SSL certificates also help with SEO efforts now that Google is providing a rankings boost for pages that are served over https.

There are many different types of certificates and many different SSL certificate features that you may need to understand in order to purchase the right SSL certificate. The most critical distinction to make is whether you need a high assurance certificate, a low assurance certificate, or an EV certificate.

What is a high assurance SSL certificate?

There are two things that must be verified before you can be issued a high assurance certificate: ownership of the domain name and valid business registration. Both of these items are listed on the certificate so visitors be be sure that you are who you say you are. Because it requires manual validation, high assurance certificates can take an hour to a few days to be issued.

What is a high assurance SSL certificate?

A low assurance/domain-validated certificate is a certificate that only includes your domain name in the certificate (not your business or organization name). SSL Certificate authorities usually can automatically verify that you own the domain name by sending an automated email to an email address listed on the domain's WHOIS record. They can be issued instantly and are cheaper but, as the name implies, they provide less assurance to your customers.

What is an EV (Extended Validation) SSL certificate?

An EV Certificate is a new type of certificate that is designed to prevent phishing attacks. It requires extended validation of your business and of the person ordering the certificate. It can take a few days to a few weeks to receive but it provides even greater assurance to customers than high assurance certificates by making the address bar turn green.

What is a wildcard SSL certificate?

A wildcard certificate can secure an unlimited number of first level sub domains on a single domain name. For example, you could get a wildcard certificate with *.yourdomain.com as the common name. This certificate would secure www.yourdomain.com, mail.yourdomain.com, secure.yourdomain.com, anything.yourdomain.com, etc... In other words, it will work on any sub-domain that replaces the wildcard character (*).

How secure are the SSL certificates issued?

All SSL certs provide your website with security, but there are varying levels of it. The bigger the key, the harder it is to decode. The precise encryption value of PositiveSSL falls into the 40- to 256-bit range. Most browsers/operating systems work at 128-bit level, which is quite secure according to modern security standards. 256-bit encryption level can be reached if numerous factors match — when your site's hosting settings and your visitors' browser settings are configured to operate at 256-bit level — but this is mostly out of your control. Devices that work at only 40-bit are as extinct as triceratops (some people believe they never even existed).