SSL Certificates

Anyone who does business online should be using an SSL Certificate for their website. Although they’re frequently used with ecommerce websites, they should be used on any sites where sensitive information is exchanged, such as:

• Entering credit card details

• Logging in with a username and password

• Viewing or sending emails

• Downloading a customer database

• Conducting online banking or sharing financial details

• Chatting in a private room

Installing your SSL Certificate is a multi-step process, in which you will need to request, verify and download your Certificate files.

For more details on each step, please read the following article: How do I install my SSL Certificate?

Although anyone can use a Domain Validation SSL Certificate, only registered businesses will be able to use our Organisational Validation and Extended Validation Certificates.

This is because these Certificate types verify the domain name and the company associated with it, thereby offering a greater level of trust. As such, they’re typically used for websites where users need to enter sensitive information such as payment details and contact information.

By only allowing legitimate businesses to use these Certificates, this prevents scammers from misusing them.

This type of Certificate secures your domain name as well as an unlimited number of subdomains.

For example, www.yourbusinessname.com, shop.yourbusinessname.com, and secure.yourbusinessname.com can all be protected with a single Wildcard SSL Certificate.

It works the same way as a regular SSL Certificate, undergoes the same validation processes, and is available either as Domain Validation SSL or Organisational Validation SSL.

When generating a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) for a Wildcard Certificate, add an asterisk (*) to the left of the Common Name where you want to specify the wildcard.

Examples:

*.yourbusinessname.com secures www.yourbusinessname.com, secure.yourbusinessname.com, etc.

www*.yourbusinessname.com secures www1.yourbusinessname.com,

www2.yourbusinessname.com, etc.

*.mail.yourbusinessname.com secures secure.mail.yourbusinessname.com,
www.mail.yourbusinessname.com, etc.

It might sound complicated - but it's really not! Our friendly support team are ready to help you should you need any guidance.

All our Certificates work with every major web browser, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome and Safari.

As you can imagine, the proportion of people using browsers that aren't compatible with our Certificates is tiny - around 1% - and because they are industry standard, every other provider will have the same compatibility rate.

When you buy a 123 Reg SSL Certificate, you can use one of the site seals on your website. These instantly recognisable badges confirm to visitors that you're protected.

When a customer clicks on the site seal, they'll be able to view more information about your site's identity and confirm that you really are who you say you are.

Starfield Technologies has been a Certificate Authority since 2004 and have over 1 million active SSLs in use around the world which receive over 1 billion security checks every day. Starfield certificates are trusted by every major browser in the world.

Starfield are committed to ensuring high performance standards and maintaining their high levels of security. They successfully complete 3 annual WebTrust audits of their SSL Certificates and are members of Microsoft, Mozilla, Apple, Google and Oracle's root programs, among others.

Alongside this, they are also a founding member of the CA/Browser Forum and participated in the development of the EV SSL standard.

Absolutely. Just choose the option you think fits best. We'll walk you through the process and explain every step, so you'll always know what's coming next and how to get it done right.

The process differs a bit depending on how you plan to use your Certificate:

* I'm buying an SSL and domain name at the same time: We'll take you through the normal ordering process so you can find the domain you want to add the SSL Certificate to it.

* I want to buy a standalone SSL: Standalone Certificates must be purchased through your 123 Reg Control Panel. You must sign up to get a 123 Reg account (if you don’t already have one), then log in to our site and place an order through the Control Panel.

Once your SSL Certificate has expired, you will no longer be able to renew it as it will become invalid.

To prevent this from happening, you can set your Certificate to auto-renew within your 123 Reg Control Panel. Alternatively, you can manually renew your Certificate up to 120 days before and 14 days after the expiration date by following the steps outlined in the following article: How do I renew my SSL Certificate?

When you buy an SSL Certificate, the issuing authority will perform some checks on you or your business to verify your identity.

This step is important as it’s only by ensuring SSL Certificates are issued correctly that the security of the system can be guaranteed.