+What is an SSL / Secure Certificate?
SSL and Secure Certificates provide security for your Virtual Web Property by encrypting communications between the server and the person visiting the Site. A green or gray padlock icon or a green bar is displayed in the address bar at the top, left corner of the web page.
In order to use SSL on your Virtual Property, you need to have an SSL Certificate (also known as a Secure Certificate) installed on a server using a dedicated IP address such as those provided by GriotSites. Visitors to your Virtual Rental or Lease Property need to use a modern web browser such as recent versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari or Google Chrome.
+What is it used for?
There are two main reasons why you would need an SSL Certificate (Secure Sockets Layer). The first and most common reason is because you want to accept credit card payments on your Virtual Property. The second reason is that you may have confidential information that you want to keep secure while it is being accessed via the web. SSL Certificates also help to protect your passwords from being intercepted when typed into a secure login page.
+Do I need one?
If you are accepting credit card payments online via a merchant account such as PayPal, the credit card associations and networks require that you use SSL whenever you transmit credit card information such as the card number, card holder's name, expiration date, CVV code, etc. (such as when a customer enters their credit card on your shopping cart order form or payment page). This is an important part of making your Web Property PCI compliant (a set of rules that must be followed in order to accept credit card payments).
In addition to being PCI compliant (which is required by Visa, MasterCard, Discover Network, American Express, Diners Club International, JCB and your payment processing company), your customers also look to see if your order form or shopping cart is secure before entering their credit card information. You can easily lose sales if your customers see that your Web Property is not secure.
If customers are not entering credit card information directly on your Virtual Property, but rather entering it directly on a payment processing company's Web Property, such as PayPal, Google Checkout or Amazon Payments, then you do not need an SSL Certificate since you are not transmitting or storing credit card information.
+Do I need to submit a ticket to renew my Shared SSL Certificate?
No. Our Web Techs will handle this for you. The only time you need to submit a ticket is if your certificate is having issues, or you wish to update to a private SSL Certificate.
+Can someone be able to tell that I am using a "free" certificate?
a Web Property Visitor cannot tell that you are using a shared certificate unless they look it up in tools such as SSL Shopper.
+What is the difference between a Shared SSL Certificate and a Private SSL Certificate?
A "shared" SSL Certificate is one that is installed on all Virtual Rental and Leasing Web Properties. These types of SSL Certificates work just as well as the paid or "private" ones, but a "private" SSL Certificate offers a few more features than the "shared" one, including warranty assurance.
Shared SSL certificates are not recommended for e-commerce Web Properties.
