What is a SSL server certificate?
An electronic certificate that establishes credentials when doing business or other transactions on the Web. It is issued by a certification authority (CA). It contains a user s name, serial number, expiration dates, a copy of the certificate holder’s public key (used for encrypting messages and digital signatures), and the digital signature of the certificate-issuing authority so that a recipient can verify that the certificate is real. When transactions occur on the web, SSL encrypts the buyer s credit card information for transmission to the merchant, and then decrypts at the merchant s site.
