- SSL Proxy: What Is It?
- What is an SSL Proxy Server?
- How Exactly Does SSL Proxy Works?
- Key Advantages of SSL Proxy?
- Who and when needs the SSL Proxy?
- A Special SSL Proxy Offer
SSL Proxy: What Is It?
Let’s get something out of the way right from the start: a lot of certificates no longer work with the outdated SSL proxy, but instead rely on the newer and more secure TLS (Transport Layer Security). Should you even bother to know then, what’s the deal with SSL proxy? The answer is “still yes.”
In practice, however, SSL certificates are usually still used when it comes to securing the website and server with encryption technology. The certificate itself is a simple data record: a file contains a lot of information—such as the name of the issuer, the serial number or the so-called fingerprint for encryption. The certificates come in various file formats. If the website operator wants to use a specific certificate, he must install it on the server.
To obtain a certificate, website operators must contact a certification body. These organizations may issue an SSL certificate, but usually, charge fees for their service. But why can't everyone just start their own organization? The reason is as follows: manufacturers of browsers, such as Microsoft, Mozilla or Google, must also accept the certificates; otherwise, the corresponding certificate has no use whatsoever.
The software company Symantec also had to ascertain this: After Google has withdrawn the trust of the software manufacturer, its certificates are no longer supported by Chrome. As a result, users of the Google browser no longer receive an encryption symbol that indicates secure data transmission when surfing on a website that uses a Symantec certificate. Thus, it still makes sense to cover the bases of knowledge, which you'll find below.
What is an SSL Proxy Server?
What is an SSL proxy and how do you define it for those of us who aren’t keen on all things programming?
The proxy SSL server is an intermediate computer that acts as an intermediary ("proxy"—an intermediary) between your computer and the Internet. All your Internet calls go through it. Proxy processes them, and the results (files downloaded from the Internet) are passed to you. A proxy SSL server can do a lot. He is capable of:
- Speeding up your work with the Internet.
- Making your journey on the web anonymous.
- Allowing you to enter chats, even if you are blocked.
- Helping to look at those sites to which your system administrator has closed access.
- And much more.
You may ask, "Why do I need some kind of proxy there? It's good for me." Indeed, since childhood, we know that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. But the trick is that we need not the shortest distance, but the best communication speed. And high speed is not necessarily the result of the shortest distance.
How Exactly Does SSL Proxy Works?
Your client connects to a server and usually, the server first authenticates itself to the client with a certificate. Then either the client sends the server a secret random number - encrypted with the server's public key - or the server and your client calculate a shared secret using the Diffie-Hellman key exchange method. A key is then calculated from this secret, which is then used to encode the communication with symmetrical encryption. An SSL certificate is nothing more than an agreement between your client and a server to be able to encrypt your data to be transmitted to the server.
You can imagine it in the form of a simple sequence of the logical steps.
- Request to establish a connection secured by SSL
- Display of the certificate
- In this step, the following information of the certificate is checked:
- Validity
- Signature by a trustworthy third party
- Transfer of a unique encryption key
- (encrypted with the server's public key)
- The decryption of the encryption key by the server using its private key
- Establishing a secure connection
Key Advantages of SSL Proxy?
Now you’re probably thinking, “Sounds great, but what do I get from it?” We’ve got you right there, here are the three key points to keep in mind.
SSL certificates close security gaps
SSL proxy server not only increases trust in the website and shows that an Internet presence is really what it claims to be. An SSL certificate also helps to close security gaps. A certificate, for example, makes it possible to transmit data encrypted between the server and the user. Access by unauthorized persons to the website or manipulations is also significantly more complicated with an SSL certificate.
More trust and security for website visitors
An SSL certificate not only stands for a secure website, which is really what it claims to be. It also stands for the secure transmission of the data that is transmitted to the website or the server. An SSL certificate makes a significant contribution to increasing user trust and the security of a website. This is particularly important since people are now much more careful and more security-conscious on the Internet.
An SSL certificate is therefore considered the standard and stands for a secure, reputable and professional website. Investing in the certificate is therefore definitely worthwhile. Many web hosts even offer their customers an SSL certificate free of charge. In this case, you only have to set it up and implement it on your web server.
SSL certificates support search engine optimization
SSL proxy server also plays an important role in search engine optimization. Google and other search engines are concerned about security and want websites to be what they claim to be. Besides, SSL certificates are now the standard for every good website. If an SSL certificate is missing, this harms search engine optimization (SEO). Search engines such as Google punish websites without a corresponding certificate and list them worse. From an SEO perspective, it is therefore always worthwhile to obtain an SSL certificate for your website.
Who and when needs the SSL Proxy?
Well, there is a wide range of different kinds of them that correspond to different needs. Here are a few of the most common:
- Small projects like a personal website, blog or thematic forum will use an SSL certificate with domain name verification. Such certificates are usually recommended in case if customers create accounts on your site, subscribe to emails, pay for courses or other services.
- For a corporate website, social network, online store, insurance or travel agency, an SSL certificate with organization verification is suitable. These certificates are great if customers store personal information on your company's website, correspond with other users, buy products or pay for consultations.
- A government organization, a large online store, a car dealer, a real estate agency, a bank or an investment fund website will use an SSL certificate with advanced document verification. If your customers store money, securities or bank card information on your site, make large payments or upload personal documents, this one is the right way to go. When you go to a site with such a certificate, a green line appears in the browser with the name of the company. It means that the company has been thoroughly tested.
- A multi-domain certificate is suitable for an internal company network, mail server, holding or trading network. We recommend them to companies that have several sites or a site with pages on subdomains. You protect all sites with one certificate.
- The owner of a multi-page corporate website, social network, online store or trading network website will use a certificate with subdomain protection. They are also called Wildcard and are perfect for those who want to protect the main domain and all subdomains at the same time. Wildcard certificates are available only with domain and organization verification. To get a green line for pages on subdomains, you will need either a multi-domain certificate or several ordinary certificates with advanced verification.
A Special SSL Proxy Offer
And now we got to the main point, namely, how do you choose the right proxy certificate? Do you need to pay for it since there are so many free of charge options? Obviously, there's no one-size-fits-all solution but here are some things to pay attention to understand the bigger picture.
The free SSL proxies require a thorough examination because its quality in 99% of cases leaves much to be desired, low speed and constant failures. Even worse is that there are no long-running free SSL proxies. As a rule, after a while, they either go into paid status or stop working and you have to start all over.
And what do the paid services like SSL Certificate Creation offer? Let’s see to find out if it’s worth it.
1. High-level security
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is one of the most commonly used and most secure encryption algorithms available today. It is publicly available, and it is the cipher that the NSA uses to secure documents classified as confidential. The algorithm is based on several permutations, permutations, and linear transformations, each of which is performed on data blocks of 16 bytes, hence the term block cipher. These operations are repeated several times, called "rounds".
During each round, a unique round key is calculated from the encryption key and included in the calculation. Fun fact: breaking a 128-bit AES key using a modern supercomputer will take longer than the estimated age of the universe. Thus, nowadays there is no real attack, and it remains the preferred encryption standard for governments, banks and high-security systems worldwide.
2. Authorized Domain
With this offer, you can be sure that your domain is validated and taken care of. Domain Validation SSL (SSL) certificates are entry-level certificates that confirm the validity of a website address. Domain Validation SSL is one of the most affordable SSL certificates available on the Internet. Domain Validation SSL certificates are ideal for entry-level online projects or small online stores.
To obtain an SSL certificate, Domain Validation SSL does not require the provision of documents, which allows you to quickly obtain a certificate—after payment and entering the certificate data (CSR request)—the SSL certificate is ready for use within five minutes and it’s suitable for organizing payment acceptance with VISA / MASTER CARD plastic cards on your website.
3. Documentation Support
The whole operation is simple to follow through and doesn't call for either deep knowledge on the topic nor for an extensive amount of time and effort. All you need to do is to get the email and follow the comprehensive instructions. If any issue comes up, the tech support is within your reach, though, the misunderstandings happen quite rarely.
Now, you have all of the data needed to make the decision, whether you need a transparent SSL proxy and how to look for the one, the only thing to remind you is to stay attentive when comparing options and securing the deal reasonably.
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