How does a digital certificate work and what is the encryption strength of GeoTrust certificates?
After authenticating identity, the CA issues digital certificates, which also contain a matched pair of electronic keys, the public key and the private key.When the customer contacts a website, the public key is sent to the customer, and attaches itself and encrypts data that is transmitted back to the website (such as personal information). Upon receipt, the private key recognizes the public key, and then decrypts the information. A similar exchange of public and private keys occurs to confirm the identity of the parties, thus ensuring that only the intended recipient has access to the information, so privacy and security is maintained. All GeoTrust SSL certificates support up to 256-bit encryption. This of course is all dependent on your browser supporting 256 bit encryption from your browser to the webserver.
