Chapter 18: Strong Transaction Security in Multiple Server Environments

“The ballot is stronger than the bullet.”

—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)

Overview

In today’s businesses, electronic communication is a central part of the everyday flow of information, and privacy is a top priority. Whether your company conducts sales over the Internet or hosts a company-specific network, you want to know that your communications are safe from unauthorized interference.

For information exchange between servers and client browsers and server-to-server, load balancing devices and SSL accelerators, SSL certificates have become recognized as the bottom line in security. Working with the SSL protocol for encryption, SSL certificates protect businesses against site spoofing, data corruption, and repudiation of agreements. They assure customers that it is safe to submit personal information, and provide colleagues with the trust they need to share sensitive business information.

For companies with multiple servers and load balancing devices in their network, you can now locally manage your own SSL certificates with managed public key infrastructure (PKI) for SSL certificates. If you need to secure five or more servers, enrollments and cancellations can become cumbersome when managed one-by-one. With managed PKI for SSL certificates, you save money by purchasing your SSL certificates in bulk, then save time by issuing your own IDs to servers and load balancing devices within your organization. You can customize your end-user support to meet your company-specific needs, and integrate your server and client security systems.

This chapter provides you with a basic introduction to digital ID technology and SSL certificates. It then lays out the reasons that you would want to consider managed PKI for SSL certificates as an alternative to one-by-one purchasing. Finally, it presents the features you can expect if you decide managed PKI for SSL certificates is right for your organization.