If you want to build a successful website, security is one of the key factors, especially for websites that need to collect PIA (Personal Identity Information) from visitors.
Consider a website that needs to enter a social security number, or more commonly, an e-commerce website that needs to add credit card information to complete the purchase. On such a website, security is not only the expectation of those visitors, but also the key to success.
If you are building an e-commerce website, you need a security certificate to ensure the data security of the server. For certificate selection, you can create a self-signed certificate or obtain a certificate signed by a certificate authority (CA). Let's look at the similarities and differences between the two certificates.
Similarity between CA signed certificate and self-signed certificate
Whether your certificate is signed by CA or by yourself, one thing is exactly the same: you will get a secure website. Data sent through HTTPS/SSL connection will be encrypted and no third party can eavesdrop.
Since self-signed certificates can also do this, why pay CA?
CA tells your customers that this server information has been verified by "trusted source point", and the most commonly used CA is Verisign. CA will verify your domain name ownership and issue a certificate to ensure the safety and legality of the website.
The problem with using self-signed certificates is that almost every Web browser will check whether the HTTPS connection is signed by a trusted CA. If the connection is self-signed, it will be marked as a potential risk and an error message will pop up, which will reduce your customers' trust in the website.
Summary: CA signature certificate has dual functions of "identification" and "encryption", while self-signed certificate only has encryption function because self-certified identity is not credible, and it is used in situations where identification is not needed.
Under what circumstances can I use a self-signed certificate?
Because they provide the same protection ability, self-signed certificates can be used in any case where CA signing certificates are used, but they are especially suitable for self-signed certificates in some cases. For example, self-signed certificates are very suitable for testing HTTPS servers. You don't have to pay for a CA-signed certificate to test the website, just remind testers that their browsers may pop up warning messages.
When you need to enter private information, you can also use a self-signed certificate, such as:
● User name and password form
● Collect personal (non-financial) information.
Of course, only people who know and trust you will use such a website.
So you see, in the final analysis, it is the word "letter". When you use a self-signed certificate, you are saying to the customer, "Please believe me-I am the person I said"; When you use a certificate signed by a CA, you are saying, "Please trust me-because Verisign can prove my identity".
If you are doing e-commerce, you need a CA signature certificate.
If you use a self-signed certificate just to let customers log on to your website, they may forgive you, but if you ask them to enter credit card or Paypal information, then you really need a CA-signed certificate, because most people trust CA-signed certificates, without which they will not do business through the HTTPS server. So if you want to sell things on your website and invest in certificates, it's just the cost of doing business.