SSL Certificates for Internal Server Names: Diving into the Concept
SSL certificate is a technical concept to be precise. So, before telling you why you can’t use internal server names for SSL certificate, we want to make sure that you know what’s an SSL certificate in the first place.
SSL certificate is something that keeps a website secure for users. It provides an additional layer of protection to a website, encrypting data that flows in and out the site, keeping it safe from intruders.
SSL Certificate: How Does it Work?
Say that you run an online business. You sell something with your site, for this instance say bags. Again, let us consider that there is a customer named Harry who wants to buy a bag. When Harry makes a purchase, he needs to disclose his personal information (name, credit card info, etc.). The personal information that Harry provides should go to your server computer and nowhere else.
Meaning, hackers might intercept the connection between Harry and your website and then steal his information halfway. SSL certificate or Secure Sockets Layer certificate prevents this by encrypting data both ways.
First, when Harry’s computer connects to a server computer, it asks your server computer for the SSL certificate as proof. When your server computer can show the SSL certificate and verify that the information Harry will be sending will be to your server and not to hackers’ computers, the process is initiated. When Harry provides his personal particulars and it moves towards your site server, the SSL certificate will convert the information to some codes and provide the decoding information to your server computer only.
From this, you can also understand that every page in a site needs a unique SSL certificate. This way, SSL certificates help you and customers feel secure when browsing the internet.
What Are Internal Server Names?
In 2015, it was made a rule that internal names can’t be used for SSL certificates. Again, to know what this means, you will need to understand the concept of internal server names. An internal server name is a domain name or an IP address in a private network. From this definition, we can deduce that internal server names do not work well with a public domain.
For example, say that your official website is bagshop.com. Then, an internal server name could be bagshop.local, or bagshop.mail. Also, NetBIOS names without a public domain, IPv4 address in the RFC 1918 range and IPv6 address in the RFC 4193 range are other instances of internal server names.
Reasons Why You Can’t Use Internal Server Names for SSL Certificates
Certificate Authorities are the people that issue a website its SSL certificate. The main reason for SSL certificates not being made available to internal server names is because they are not unique. For example, an internal server name for a website could be firstoffice.mail while for another website could also use the same internal server name, firstoffice.mail.
If a CA is to issue both of these internal server SSL certificates, both of them will have the same one and there won’t be any significance of the SSL certificate. Hackers will easily find the information with these common SSL certificates and two websites might sometimes get each other data. Thus, this is the reason we can’t use internal server names for SSL certificates.
To know more about SSL Certificates, just read our blogs or contact us. Our team of experts will be glad to assist you in every way possible.
Also, if you are planning to purchase SSL Certificates, we have a broad selection of Certificate Authorities available for you.
