RapidSSL Certificate

Secure your webserver with an SSL Certificate from RapidSSL. The lowest cost highly trusted 128-bit SSL Certificate suitable for lite and professional level e-commerce - setup quickly without the need for faxed paperwork!

What is SSL?

The SSL (and TLS) protocol is the Web standard for encrypting communications between users and SSL (secure sockets layer) e-commerce sites. Data sent via an SSL connection is protected by encryption, a mechanism that prevents eavesdropping and tampering with any transmitted data. SSL provides businesses and consumers with the confidence that private data sent to a Web site, such as credit card numbers, are kept confidential. Web server certificates (also known as secure server certificates or SSL certificates) are required to initialize an SSL session.

Customers know when they have an SSL session with a website when their browser displays the little gold padlock and the address bar begins with a https rather than http. SSL certificates can be used on webservers for Internet security and mailservers such as imap, pop3 and smtp for mail collection / sending security.

Get your RapidSSL site seal
Installation instructions here

What is a RapidSSL Certificate?

RapidSSL Certificates uniquely enable businesses to obtain low cost 1 year fully functional single root trusted SSL certificates and are ideal for websites conducting lite levels of ecommerce. RapidSSL.com owns the root used to issue the certificates, making RapidSSL both stable and far easier to install than a chained root install certificate.

RapidSSL lowers the barrier of entry for companies that want single root SSL security by providing immediately issued certificates at the lowest cost available.

What is ROUThost's role in this?

We resell RapidSSL certificates to our customers and are able to provide a lower price than you would normally pay. We also take care of applying for the certificate and installing it for you.

What is browser ubiquity or browser recognition?

	IE 5.01+
	AOL 5+
	Netscape 4.7+
	Opera 7+
	Safari
	Mozilla 1+
	Firefox 1+

Browser ubiquity is the term used in the industry to describe the estimated percentage of Internet users that will inherently trust an SSL certificate. The lower the browser ubiquity, the less people will trust your certificate - clearly, if you are operating a commercial site you require as many people as possible to trust your SSL certificate. As a general rule, any SSL certificate with over 95% browser ubiquity is acceptable for a commercial site.

Ubiquity is however not the only consideration in deciding whether one SSL certificate is better than another. Many companies running high transaction volume web sites need to maximize customer confidence and therefore buy certificates from well known, long time security vendors and mostly use the major players e.g. GeoTrust and Verisign who are all WebTrust compliant.

If you have a low volume web site and you decide that your customers confidence is not effected at all by the brand behind the SSL certificate, or the volume of customers that would have an issue are insignificant in number, then RapidSSL or RapidSSL Wildcard certificates are ideal.

Can I see which Certification Authorities have their own Trusted CA root present in browsers?

Yes. Your browser contains a Trusted CA root certificate store. You can access this by opening Internet Explorer, then go to Tools, select Internet Options, select the Content tab, click Certificates, select the Trusted Root Certification Authorities tab. You will then see a dialog box presenting a list of all Certification Authorities who own their own Trusted CA roots (you can examine the root certificate by double clicking it):

GeoTrust owns the Equifax root (Equifax Digital Certificate services became GeoTrust in 2001).

RapidSSL.com's RapidSSL product owns its own root. RapidSSL.com uses a different Equifax root.

Can I secure multiple subdomains with a single Certificate?

An SSL certificate is issued to a fully qualified domain name (FQDN). This means that an SSL certificate issued to "secure.routhost.com" cannot be used on different subdomains, such as "www.routhost.com". To get around this restriction there are RapidSSL Wildcard Certificates. Wildcard Certificates allow you to secure multiple subdomains on the same domain name, thereby saving you time and money, and of course you do not need to manage multiple certificates on the same server.

So with a single certificate issued to *.yourdomain.com you could protect:

• www.yourdomain.com
• secure.yourdomain.com
• etc.yourdomain.com

For more details on our Wildcard offer, please contact us at sales@routhost.com.

What is the Warranty?

RapidSSL.com provide a $10,000 warranty on the RapidSSL and RapidSSL Wildcard certificates. The warranty protects the end user if RapidSSL.com mis-issues a certificate.

It is worth noting that other SSL Providers use warranty as a means of adding perceived value to their offerings, as such will offer the same certificate with higher warranties and then charge more for the certificate! RapidSSL.com do not collect warranty on any SSL Certificate, ever! The inclusion of a $10,000 warranty on RapidSSL makes RapidSSL.com the lowest cost provider of highly trusted, fully warrantied SSL certificates!