Why is it important to have an SSL certificate?

Secure communication is ensured with SSL encryption, which you learned about in the previous chapter. Before moving forward, familiarize yourself with the fundamentals of SSL. You can buy SSL certificates through sslcertificate.ch.

The concepts behind SSL are as follows:

1. An asymmetric cryptography system
2. A symmetric cryptography system

An asymmetries-based cryptography

Data is encrypted and decrypted by using key pairs that are mathematically related (also called asymmetric encryption or public key encryption). Communication can be established between you and someone with one of your keys. Public keys are what we refer to as such. In addition to the Public Key, a key pair also contains a Private Key.

Encryption and decryption of data are accomplished by cryptographic keys.

Data signed by two parties is encrypted and decrypted using cryptographic keys. In one pair, the public key generates the key, while in the other pair, the private key is used to decrypt the data.

Communication between two SSL servers is initiated using asymmetric encryption. In addition to elliptic curves, RSA, DSA, and EIGamal, several asymmetric key algorithms are commonly used.

An algorithm based on symmetry for cryptography

Symmetric cryptography uses only one key to encrypt and decrypt data. Other than the sender and receiver, no one should know this key.

Communication is initiated using asymmetric encryption in SSL handshakes. EIGamal, RSA, and DSA are just a few of the asymmetric key algorithms that utilize elliptic curves.

Cryptography synchronized with the internet

The symmetric key is an element of symmetric cryptography that encrypts and decrypts data in both directions. The sender and receiver should be the only ones who know this key.

A handshake between a web browser and a server can be seen in the above figure divided into two major steps: the handshake itself and the transmission.

The SSL handshake

The first step in SSL communication is always the handshake over SSL. It is necessary to perform an SSL handshake before a data transfer can take place, which is an asymmetric encryption method that verifies the web server and obtains the server’s public key.

Here is an example using SSL:

The following steps will help you understand:

1. Message from a client says “hello”. According to the SSL version, the cipher settings, and session-specific data, the server needs to use SSL to communicate with the client.
2. As a response, the server displays a message that reads “server hello.”. In addition to the public key, the cipher settings, and other information must be included in order to communicate over SSL with the server.
3. Servers are authenticated by CAs (Certificate Authorities) and clients verify SSL certificates. If the client cannot authenticate, there can be no open SSL connection. We have successfully authenticated, so we will move on to the next step.
4. In order to encrypt session keys, the client uses the server’s public key. It is the client’s responsibility to send its own certificate to the server (usually when communicating between servers) if the server requests authentication.
5. Servers encrypt client acknowledgements using their private keys and send them to clients using their session keys.

In order to protect client and server data, the SSL handshake encrypts or decrypts all data with a valid session key. It is not necessary at this time to have a private key or a public key.

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