What is a Standard SSL Certificate and What It Protects?

What is a Standard SSL Certificate?

A Standard SSL Certificate is a regular server security certificate that provides the basic validation level, making it an entry-level or basic certification.

Being a basic or entry-level certificate doesn’t mean that it is worthless. This certificate has some robust measures to provide website security, such as:

• Standard 256-bit encryption
• Website Trust Seal
• 2048-bit CSR encryption key
• Unlimited Server Licenses
• It covers full qualified domain name (www and non-www version)
• It supports all the latest web browsers, mobile devices, etc.

Note: A Standard SSL certificate can only protect a single domain (www and non-www versions of the domain); hence, you can’t use it to preserve any other domain and subdomains of the covered main domain.

Standard SSL Certificate Example

By acquiring a Standard SSL Certificate, you can secure the www.yourwebsite.net domain and the non-www domain – yourwebsite.net. However, It will not be able to protect any other domain or subdomain – subdomain.yourwebsite.net.

Standard SSL Certificate Authentication Process

Authenticating a Standard SSL certificate is a straightforward process. To accomplish this, the domain owner has to prove they own the domain, and this can be done by using any one of the methods mentioned below:

Email-Based Authentication:

Domain owners can choose email authentication to affirm that they own the domain. Once the owner applies for the validation and authentication, the Certificate Authority sends an email to the owner, confirming whether they have applied for a DV certificate or not.

The email is sent using the official email ID or the email listed in your WHOIS registration. After the CA receives a positive answer from the owner, within a few minutes, the certificate is approved.

CNAME-Based Authentication:

You can choose this type of authentication only if you are one of the Sectigo (formerly Comodo) customers. Sectigo sends two hashes – SHA -2 and MD5- and asks you to enter both of these hashes into your CNAME DNS record domain name. Once done, Comodo verifies it and approves your certificate.

File-Based Authentication:

If you want to go for this type of authentication, then the CA will send a text file that you need to upload to your website in a particular directory or folder. Once you complete this, the CA verifies and approves your certificate.

Read Also: DV SSL Vs OV SSL Certificate Differences Explained

How Does Standard SSL Certificate Work?

Working with Standard SSL Certificates is simple. It uses a cryptographic method of public and private keys to encrypt and decrypt the data transmitted between the browser (client) and the server.

The public key is utilized to encrypt the data that is being transmitted. For example:

Bank account number: 998723236789

SSL encrypts it using a public key, and after the encryption, it will be something like this: Q89HDjuWE&yugej73. Due to the encryption, the account number will be in the form of a scrambled text.

And because of this, hackers or malicious actors won’t be able to read it. And the scrambled text can only be decrypted using the private key. This is how a Standard SSL Certificate works, and this is how SSL Standard Certificate protects sensitive information.

Features of Standard SSL Certificate

There are “n” number of features of a Standard SSL Certificate. Let’s go through some of the most prominent ones:

• Trust indicators: Standard SSL certificates include two essential trust indicators: the padlock icon and https in the URL. It assures the customers that they are interacting with a legitimate website and their data is safe.
• Encryption strength: It uses SHA 256 or RSA 2048-bit encryption strength, considered the industry standard for protecting sensitive information.
• Browser compatibility: All major browsers, like Chrome, Mozilla, Safari, etc., are compatible with Standard SSL certificates.
• Issuance time: It can usually be issued within a few minutes to a few hours, depending on your chosen authentication and validation process.
• Warranty: Standard SSL certificates come with a warranty worth thousands of dollars that cover any losses incurred by a visitor due to a security breach caused by a flaw in the SSL certificate.

Here’s the list of some of the best Standard SSL Certificates available in the market, from which you can choose any one:

• Certera SSL Certificate ($3.99/yr)
• Comodo PositiveSSL Certificate ($4.99/yr)
• Sectigo Positive SSL ($4.99/yr)
• Comodo EssentialSSL Certificate ($4.99/yr)

In what cases is a standard SSL certificate inadequate?

A Standard SSL Certificate can be inadequate in various cases, such as:

• If you wish to protect other domains and subdomains.
• If you want a higher level of validation and authentication.
• If you want a higher warranty and dynamic site with company information.

If you require any of the above cases, go for an Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificate or an Organization Validation (OV) SSL certificate.

These certificates provide higher SSL security features, require higher authentication and validation, and can protect multiple domains and subdomains using the wildcard SSL feature.

Conclusion

A Standard SSL Certificate covers only one domain, except subdomains and other websites you may own. These certificates best suit small businesses, test domains, startups, etc.