SSL comes in two strengths, 40-bit and 128-bit, which refer to the length of the "session key" generated by every encrypted transaction. The longer the key, the more difficult it is to break the encryption code. Most browsers support 40-bit SSL sessions, and the latest browsers, including Netscape Communicator 4.0, enable users to encrypt transactions in 128-bit sessions - trillions of times stronger than 40-bit sessions. Global companies that require international transactions over the web can use global server certificates program to offer strong encryption to their customers.

How HTTPS Works   Click here for a more detailed view of SSL
RSA public key cryptography is widely used for authentication and encryption in the computer industry. Public key encryption is a technique that uses a pair of asymmetric keys for encryption and decryption. Each pair of keys consists of a public key and a private key. The public key is made public by distributing it widely. The private key is never distributed; it is always kept secret.

Data that is encrypted with the public key can be decrypted only with the private key. Conversely, data encrypted with the private key can be decrypted only with the public key. This asymmetry is the property that makes public key cryptography so useful.

Server Certificates
Server certificates are designed to protect you and visitors to your site. Installing a digital certificate on your server lets you:

• Authenticate your site. A digital certificate on your server automatically communicates your site's authenticity to visitors' web browsers, confirming that the visitor is actually communicating with you, and not with a fraudulent site stealing credit card numbers or personal information.
  
• Keep private communications private. Digital certificates encrypt the data visitors that exchange with your site to keep it safe from interception or tampering using SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) technology, the industry-standard method for protecting web communications. Virtually all web servers and the leading browsers, including Netscape Communicator, are optimized and ready for SSL. To activate SSL sessions with visitors to your site, all you need is a digital certificate for your server.
  
• Identify visitors. If visitors to your site use personal digital certificates, your server can instantly recognize them, facilitating instant log-in (and preventing later repudiation of the web transaction).
  
• Prevent tampering. SSL preserves the integrity of every transaction, generating a warning if so much as one character of information is changed between your server and your customer's browser.
  
• Assure confidentiality. Users are assured that no unauthorized entity has intercepted data, like account numbers or credit card numbers, en rout to the intended destination.
  

Personal Certificates
Requiring registration and passwords lets you keep track of visitors, but if exchanging this information isn't secured, data can be intercepted online. Plus, customers often forget passwords, and maintaining password databases eats up your valuable time and resources. Fortunately, personal certificates can help. Not only do digital certificates help you secure e-commerce transactions with visitors, they can also help you learn more about your customers and enhance their online experience. Set up your site to identify and recognize personal digital certificates, and you'll be able to:

• Restrict access to specified content to certain consumers - essential if you want to charge customers for certain services, or offer different levels of service for premiere customers and partners.
• Instantly authenticate a visitor's identity, instead of requiring individual usernames and passwords.
• Increase customer satisfaction and simplify access for visitors by using a digital certificate for universal web site login.
• Increase ad revenue by tracking the personalized information contained in individual digital certificates.
• Enhance the value of your site by delivering a more personalized web experience, according to the individual interests, browsing or purchasing histories, or personal profiles you track from digital certificate data.

  How You Can Take Advantage of Personal Certificates
  

• Business-to-business communications. Use personal certificates to offer your suppliers and partners controlled access to special web sites for updating product availability, shipping dates, and inventory management.
• Banks. Provide customers with secure access to accounts for stock transactions and account management - issue digital certificates to your clients, who can use them as a universal log-in to your site for targeted content and services. You can also use personal certificates to send secure e-mail for private account information.
• Online store. Track browsing, purchase patterns, and set up accounts. Create customer profiles, and adapt your site's design - all based on the information you gather from digital certificates. You can even link digital certificate information to a customer database for account histories.
• Publishing. Gather information from digital certificates to understand your readers, creating profiles and increasing the value of your ad space.
• Service providers. Delivery companies, for example, can issue digital certificates to let users track shipments online.