What is an SSL certificate/a web server certificate?
A web server certificate – also just called an ‘SSL certificate’, for ‘Secure Sockets Layer’, one of the protocols used to exchange information securely online – is a digital certificate which contains some or all of the following information: • The name of the person or organisation to whom it has been issued (the Organisation field) • Optionally, the part of the organisation or the trading name to whom it has been issued (the Organisational Unit field) • The country in which the person or organisation is based • The state, province or county in which the person or organisation is based • The town or city in which the person or organisation is based • The name of the server to which the certificate will enable secure connections – e.g. secure.herald.co.uk (this is the Common Name field) along with a public key for the person or organisation to whom the certificate has been issued. (‘A’ public key rather than ‘the’ public key, because an organisation might have many public keys used fo
