An SSL certificate is a bit of code on your web server that provides security for online communications. When a web browser contacts your secured website, the SSL certificate enables an encrypted connection. It’s kind of like sealing a letter in an envelope before sending it through the mail.

SSL certificates keep online interactions private even though they travel across the public Internet, and they help customers gain the confidence to provide personal information on your website. If you ask users of your website to sign in, enter personal data such as credit card numbers, or view confidential information such as health benefits or financial accounts, you need to keep the data private.

An organization that issues SSL certificates is known as Certificate Authority (CA). The protection provided by an SSL certificate is only as good as the company that stands behind it. Web browsers like Firefox and Chrome maintain a list of trusted Certificate Authorities. If your site serves up one of these trusted certificates, the browser will recognize the site as secure.

An SSL certificate contains verified information about the web site it secures to help users confirm that they are communicating with your web site. Extended Validation is the industry’s highest standard of verification and provides the most visible assurance to users: the address bar turns green in high-security browsers.

SSL Certificate installed on the website means it helps to secure the data transferred between the visitor and a website and vice-versa. Though one thing has to be noted that, it doesn’t mean the information on the server is secured, as once the sensitive data reaches the server it’s up to the admin on how to keep it safe for example, encryption of database.