5 Steps to Purchase an SSL/TLS certificate from a trusted Certificate Authority (CA) (2024)

In this article we will focus more on the steps involved in purchasing the SSL/TLS certificate from a trusted Certificate Authority (CA)

What is HTTP

HTTP, which is short for HyperText Transfer Protocol, is a set of rules for transferring a web page between a web server and your browser. When you browse to a specific URL in your browser, it starts a conversation with the website’s server to download everything it needs to render that web page.

What is HTTPS?

HTTPS is an encrypted server protocol that creates a secure website connection from the web server to the web browser. The security mechanism is established by adding an SSL certificate to your web host and once installed will show a green padlock icon in your browser’s address bar.

The insecurity of HTTP can be overcome by switching to HTTPS, which encrypts communication and makes it difficult for attackers to intercept the network. For example, when you’re entering in your credit card details over a secured network, an attacker will only see random, meaningless text.

To implement HTTPS for your website, you must Purchase an SSL/TLS certificate from a trusted Certificate Authority (CA)

Purchase an SSL/TLS certificate from a trusted Certificate Authority (CA).

1. Create a private key
2. Create a certificate signing request (CSR) with a private key. A CSR contains details about location, organization, and FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name).
3. Send the CSR to the trusted CA authority.
4. The CA authority will send you the SSL certificate signed by their root certificate authority and CA private key.
5. You can then validate and use the SSL certificate with your applications.

The first step is to purchase the SSL certificate for your site. Often times, your web host will be the easiest place to get a certificate from. If they don’t offer their own SSL, some reputable certificate issuers include DigiCert, VeriSign, and GeoTrust. For the budget conscious, GoDaddy and Namecheap have the most affordable options

The first step is to purchase the SSL certificate for your site. Often times, your web host will be the easiest place to get a certificate from. If they don’t offer their own SSL, some reputable certificate issuers include DigiCert, VeriSign, and GeoTrust. For the budget conscious, GoDaddy and Namecheap have the most affordable options.