If you attended the User Group meeting a few weeks ago, you may have caught the unveiling of BoldNet 1.6. We’re making so many changes to our Web product and it’s been pretty exciting to be a part of that over the past few months.
One component that’s not necessarily new, but is now absolutely required with the new BoldNet is a SSL certificate. SSL stands for Secure Socket(s) Layer, and a SSL certificate serves two primary purposes:
- Provides the website user with non-forgeable proof of identity of the website you’re connecting to (BoldNet).
- Guarantees the data exchanged between your web browser and the website you’re connecting to cannot be read or decrypted by a third party that may be attempting to tap into the data that’s being exchanged between your web browser and the remote server.
The SSL certificate itself contains a public and private key pair as well as verified identification information. Whenever a web browser access a secured domain, like your Central Station’s BoldNet site, the server shares the public key with the web browser to set up an encryption method and an exclusive web session key. The web browser verifies that it identifies and trusts the issuer of the SSL Certificate, and then starts a secure session that protects the sharing of data ensures privacy.
The BoldNet website stores sensitive information about Dealers, Customers and Central Stations, and because it does so, it will only acquire the data from the individual user logging in to the website via a secure connection. A secure connection protects the website owner and website users, such as Dealers, from sensitive information being accessed, which could lead to fraud or identity theft.
If you enter data, such as usernames and passwords, over a non-secure Internet connection, the data is transmitted from your computer to the destination server in plain text. When data is transmitted over the Internet as plain text, it can be intercepted. Anyone who wants to access your username and password has to only listen in on the right ports or look in the right places to read exactly what you’ve entered. And that’s the last thing you want happening.
There are several places to get a SSL certificate for your website, like
GoDaddy.com,
VeriSign or
Thawte. Depending on the level of security you desire, you can pick and choose what type of SSL certificate is right for your Central Station. As always, if you’re unsure of what level of certificate you need, you can always contact our sales or customer support department.