10 August 2014

Dreamhost SSL - How To Make Secure Site?

By Dhruv Patel


A presence on the World Wide Web is a desirable commodity for many individuals and organizations. They want share their services, products, stories, and blogs to as many people as possible, and using the web is the most expedient way to reach anyone in the word with an internet connection. Although for most the convenience of reaching such a vast audience outweighs any disadvantages, online security is valid concern. In addition to parties legitimately interested in the information or commodities, hackers can invade websites to cause damage and steal data from transfers. Keeping a website secure from cyber attacks requires advanced expertise. Most organizations solicit a web hosting company that will provide both a server where the website resides and encryption for protection, such as DreamHost SSL.

Web hosting services include hardware space for the website along with a technology called Secure Socket Layer or SSL that makes the data useless to everyone else who might grab it try to read it without the deciphering code. For non-critical projects such as a spot to RSVP for a dinner party or a small business with a limited budget, shared web hosting provides space at a low cost. In this case information moving to and from the websites uses a communal connection.

Those who can pay more may choose a partitioned space on a server or a whole server to themselves. This setup is not sharing data transfers with other sites through the same bandwidth. They tend to run faster because data is not clogged by another site.

In addition to choosing an adequate level of service for the website, one must also consider the security setup. This is especially important for those processing monetary transactions through bank transfers and credit cards. When personal and payment data is traveling from a personal computer to the website server, it is vulnerable to parties who can intercept and use the data to steal identities, run up credit cards, and empty bank accounts. SSL protocol which scrambles the transactions as they pass to and from the server.

Most individuals and organizations rely on the skills of the hosting service to provide SSL which encrypts the information. While it is travelling through cyberspace no one who intercepts it can read it. They can only be read through a special decoding key available only to the web host.

In addition with encryption services, web hosting companies can also help with SSL certification, a method of informing customers that the site they are using meets specific security requirements. Users will want to know if they are sending their vital financial information through a safe channel. An SSL certificate notifies them that protocols are in place.

Web browsers like Internet Explorer check websites for these credentials before allowing communication. Typically customers never see this transaction take place unless there is a problem. If there is no certificate or it has expired, a notification pops up giving the user the option to continue or cancel.

Setting up a website and keeping information safe requires advanced skills. Many find it cost effective to use the expertise from companies that specialize in hosting and security instead of allocating resources to do it themselves. DreamHost is one resource that provides hosting space for several budget levels, the SSL needed to protect transferring data, and certificates to let customers know that the site is safe to use.




About the Author: