RapidSSL® certificates are some of the most cost-effective Single Root certificates available today. Being a Single Root SSL Certificate, RapidSSL® is a highly recognized certificate.

What is SSL?

The Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol has become the universal standard on the Web for authenticating sites and for encrypting communications between users and Web servers. Because SSL is built into all major browsers and Web servers, simply installing a digital certificate or Server ID enables SSL capabilities.

SSL server authentication allows users to confirm a Web server's identity. SSL-enabled client software, such as a Web browser, can automatically check that a server's certificate and public ID are valid and have been issued by a certificate authority (CA) — such as RapidSSL® — listed in the client software's list of trusted CAs. SSL server authentication is vital for secure e-commerce transactions.

An encrypted SSL connection requires all information sent between a client and a server to be encrypted by the sending software and decrypted by the receiving software, protecting private information from interception over the Internet. In addition, all data sent over an encrypted SSL connection is protected with a mechanism for detecting tampering — that is, for automatically determining whether the data has been altered in transit. This means that users can confidently send private data, such as credit card numbers, to a website, trusting that SSL keeps it private and confidential.

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.

RapidSSL® has been designed specifically for website owners that can't afford costly SSL Certificates and require an entry level certificate, and when you purchase through DrakNet, we do nearly all the heavy lifting for you.

	RapidSSL® is compatible with: IE 5.01+ AOL 5+ Netscape 4.7+ Opera 7+ Safari Mozilla 1+ Firefox 1+

So, how do I get one?

Second, for a "low assurance" certificate, you'll need to ensure that your information on your domain registration for the administrator is accurate - the email address must be up to date and live, as RapidSSL® will email that email address to approve the issuance of the certificate.

From there, you can ask DrakNet to obtain the cert for you, or ask us to generate a key so that you can obtain your own certificate. If you ask us to obtain it for you, we'll submit everything and you need only look for the confirmation email. We'll install it, as well as renew and install it each year.

RapidSSL® certificates are $34.50 a year through DrakNet - half the cost than if you buy it directly from RapidSSL® itself!

Upgrade your site now, read the FAQ on getting an SSL cert, or contact us for more information.

Low, Medium, High Assurance?

Higher assurance (and higher cost) certs do more due diligence to confirm your idenity, and as a consequence they can offer a "higher assurity" that you are you, and that you are a legitimate company. They may ask for utility bills, business licenses, or bank accounts, and their name recognition may be higher to people (though the browser recognition is likely the same). On Opera, you'll actually see the business name to the right of URL with the lock. In IE and Firefox, higher assurity certs visually (at first glance) look almost exactly the same as low assurity certs.

Higher assurity certs do confirm more about you and your business, and can convey that assurance to your customers if your clients know how to investigate the cert's assurance level. In Opera, higher assurity certs are a great idea for things like banks, as the extra information in the URL field can help to combat phishing attempts (and its likely at some point other browsers will follow Opera's lead and incorporate this into their browsers if it is successful).

In practicality, the current situation? Most small business customers care whether there is a lock on their browser, and that there are no errors, and smaller companies are generally not the target of phishing. For the vast majority of small business sites, the low assurance cert gets them exactly what they need - encryption with no errors, certified by a recognized authority. Ask yourself how much investigation you did the last time you submitted your card over the Internet, and whether you checked out who issued the cert that made the little lock work.

As browsers and certs work harder to combat fraud and come up with new ways to assure clients, that may change - for the moment, in the present, a low assurance cert is all that's needed by most small business clients simply looking for process information. (Please note that there may be an additional burden on doctors, dentists, and other small businesses in the medical field due to HIPAA, and medium or high assurance certs may be required depending upon the transactions and information being encrypted.)

	DrakNet also offers Full Validation certs including: Comodo (SBS Secure for $129/year and SBS Secure Extended Validation for $599/year) and Geotrust (GeoTrust True BusinessID for $249/year, and GeoTrust True BusinessID with Extended Validation for $599/year). Contact us if you need, or are interested in, any of these higher assurance options.