Today is . Page created 05/20/06, updated 10/13/06

Help ImageSSL/HTTPS Secure Server

H ave you ever entered a site, went to purchase something online and received this message? Makes you wonder if is safe to send your credit info over a site that is supposed to be secure and receive this message. Select the "More Info" button to have it explained further.

Popup Message When Item(s) Are Not Secure On Site You Are Entering

S ometimes the "Unsecure Item(s)" are Images that are "Not Stored" on a "Secure Server". For example, Angelfire does not support https* as opposed to http* *. We have certain pages that link to PalPal (Secure Site) and on those pages, our images are called from a secure server (host). The path to those images start with https and you won't get the above popup message upon entering the site. Grab the below two links to see the different addresses we used for the same image (one secure and one not secure).
[ Secure Server URL ]     [ Not Secure Server URL ]

* * HyperText Transfer Protocol
*     Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer, or HTTP over SSL

T o clarify this a little further, select the below links and they will transport you to one of "PayPal" pages we have images being called from both a Non-Secure server(Designed For This Tutorial Only) and a Secure Server(Which We Do Use).
[ Page With Image Called From Secure Server ]
[ Page With Image Called From Unsecure Server ]

SSL/HTTPS

"......S hort for Secure Sockets Layer, SSL provides a level of security and privacy for those wishing to conduct secure transactions over the Internet. Originally developed by Netscape Communications and RSA Data Security, Inc., the SSL protocol protects HTTP transmissions over the Internet by adding a layer of encryption. This ensures that your transactions are not subject to "sniffing" by a third party.

S SL provides visitors to your web site with the confidence to communicate securely via an encrypted session. For companies wishing to conduct e-commerce, such as receiving credit card numbers or other sensitive information, SSL is extremely important.

W hile SSL handles the encryption part of a secure HTTP(HyperText Transfer Protocol) transaction, a Digital Certificate is necessary to provide server authentication. Several companies, called certificate authorities, including [ Verisign ], are in the business of selling digital certificates. Prices and the quality of service vary between certificate authorities, so you should shop around. Once you have purchased and installed a digital certificate on your Web server, browsers will be able to communicate securely with it via SSL.

I nternet users will make an SSL-secured connection to your server using HTTPS. HTTPS(Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer, or HTTP over SSL) is a unique protocol that combines SSL and HTTP. Most browsers support HTTPS, which gives the user the ability to communicate securely across the Internet. Hyperlinks and forms that point to SSL-protected documents must start with https://. A user can also open a URL by specifying https:// to request SSL-protected documents......"

T o read the entire above article that we are quoting, grab the below link and you are there.
[ FoxWeb.com ]

I n essence what we are saying is that if you need to upload and use graphics on a secure site and your site does not support the SSL/HTTPS, then you need to find a host to store your images on a secure server. People who deal with ebay, PayPal, etc. use secure servers to just host their images. We cannot make any recommendations on what host you should use. Just go to MSN, Yahoo!, Google, etc. and search for "Secure Image Hosting" and also "Secure Hosting". Many times the secure hosting sites also have secure hosting of images, forms etc. without getting a domain and website. You will need to shop around because the prices vary on this.

I f you have any problems with this page or with anything else, feel free to consult our [ FAQ ] and if you can't find the answer there, [ contact us ].
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