What is SSL?

          SSL is a security protocol used for securing communications on the web.
     This protocol was originally developed by Netscape Communications and has
     now become an industry standard.

          A protocol is a set of rules or procedures. SSL technology takes a message
     and runs it through a set of steps that “scrambles” the message. This is done
     so that the message cannot be read while it is being transferred.
     This ”scrambling” is called Encryption. When the message is received by the
      intended recipient, SSL unscrambles the message, checks that it came from the
      correct sender (Server Authentication ) and then verifies that it has not been
      tampered with (Message Integrity)

           SSL makes use of Digital Certificates to authenticate one or both parties of an
      Internet transaction. A digital certificate is a means of binding the details about an
      individual or organization to a public key and it serves two purposes:

• First, it provides a cryptographic key that allows another party to
  encrypt information for the certificate's owner.
• Second, it provides a measure of proof that the holder of the
  certificate is who they claim to be - because otherwise, they will
  not be able to decrypt any information that was encrypted using
  the key in the certificate.