All of our Secure SSL Certificates enable you to protect transactions and other activity on your Web site with as much as 256-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption. All you need to enable this high-grade encryption level is a Linux-based hosting plan and an SSL certificate for your site.

The actual encryption strength on a secure Web site connection enabled by a digital SSL certificate is determined by the level of encryption supported by the site visitor's browser and the server that the Web site resides on. For example, the combination of a Firefox browser and an Apache 2.X Web server enables 256-bit AES encryption with our SSL certificates. That means that if your Web site is hosted on a server whose software supports 256-bit encryption — such as Apache 2.X —, then site visitors that use a Firefox browser will have their transactions with your site protected by 256-encryption. Thus with the right combination of Web browser and Web server, you can establish a 256-bit encrypted secure connection via a Secure SSL Certificate.

Encryption strength is measured in key length — number of bits in the key. To decipher an SSL communication, one needs to generate the correct decoding key. Mathematically speaking, 2ⁿ possible values exist for an n-bit key. Thus, 40-bit encryption involves 2⁴⁰ possible values, 128-bit encryption 2¹²⁸ combinations, and 256-bit keys involves a staggering 2²⁵⁶ possible combinations, rendering the encrypted data de facto impervious to intrusion. Even with a brute-force attack (the process of systematically trying all possible combinations until the right one is found) cracking a 256-bit encryption is computationally unfeasible.