Secure Checkout

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a web standard that secures notroses.com.au by encrypting communications between the server and customers.  Google prefers sites that are secured through SSL.  You can tell when a site is secure as the URL will start with https:// (the S is the key indicator) and browsers give visual queues like this.

All of the checkouts on tasall.com are done under the common URL checkout.shopify.com.  

The exact methodology and functionality of SSL is rather complex and there are plenty of online resources that can explain the intricate technical details of how it works, but here’s a simplified explanation:

  • Data between the Web browser and server are encrypted. In simplified terms, think back to rudimentary code systems you may have experimented with as a kid, where A = 1, B = 2 and so on. This is an example of encryption. Of course, the encryption used by Web servers are significantly more complex. However, the basic concept of encryption is based on knowing the “key” to solve the problem. In our simplified example, the key is that each letter is replaced by the number matching its numerical position in the alphabet. In order for data to be encrypted and decrypted, both the Web browser and server need to know the key. SSL provides the necessary technology for the browser and server to safely share the proper key for each browsing session.
  • Encryption means that data, whether it be a customer name or credit card number, is not passed in “plain text” over the Internet but instead is replaced with what appears to be a jumble of letters, numbers and symbols.
  • SSL also typically includes a way of ensuring each computer is who it claims to be. For example, when a shopper accesses a store secured by Shopify’s SSL feature, Shopify’s servers provide a digital certificate to “prove” that it is a genuine Shopify server. This prevents another server from “pretending” to be a Shopify server and obtaining your customers’ login credentials, credit card details and other information.
  • SSL also ensures the integrity of data passed between two servers. This prevents third parties from somehow intercepting and altering or grabbing the data.