Wildcard SSL certificate vs Standard SSL certificate — Differences Explained
SSL or the secure socket layer plays a crucial role in the security of an online business and a website. It also helps decrease cyber threats. Seeing these benefits, Google made SSL security necessary for all kinds of sites in the year 2018. SSL works by encrypting shared information to secure it from unwanted access. This encrypted information is hard to decode for most hackers, therefore, keep them away from HTTPS sites. This type of security is beneficial for both the site owners as well as visitors. The majority of the users now opt for the sites that are SSL secured.
Here, it is important to note that, there is more than one type of SSL certificate. But the most popular types of certificates are Standard SSL certificate and Wildcard SSL certificate. Many users are don’t understand the clear-cut difference between these two security certificates. Therefore, we will here elaborate on the difference between Wildcard SSL and Standard SSL certificates. Before we move to a broad discussion of Wildcard SSL certificate vs Standard SSL certificate, let’s start with a brief introduction of these certificates.
Standard SSL Certificate
A Standard SSL certificate is also known as a single-domain SSL certificate. It falls in the single domain category because it can protect a single domain of site at most. This kind of certificate is an initial level certificate and offers only the basic level of security. Due to this reason, it is suitable only for the small business or for the personal sites which contain only one website and no extra subdomains. To understand the type of sites that standard SSL certificate secures, see the following examples:
https://www.forexample.com.
https://www.forexample1.com
You can see, for example, these sites look very basics and personal sites.
Advantages
There are several advantages of using Standard SSL certificates including:
· SSL helps protect the data
· SSL plays important role in proclaiming your identity
· With the help of SSL, better search engine ranking is possible
· Most importantly, SSL is necessary for higher customer trust
Wildcard SSL Certificate
Wildcard SSL certificate is useful for organization level or business sites. It protects your primary domain along with numerous subdomains with only one certificate. In simple words, SSL encryption is expanded to the sub-domains with the help of wildcard SSL. A star (*) is used before the name of a particular domain to protect all sub-domains. This type of certificate minimizes the cost and reduce time consumption, perfect for the big businesses. An example of the Wildcard SSL secured site is given below:
https://www.blog.forexample.com.
https://www.account.forexample.com.
Advantages
There are several advantages of using Thawte Wildcard SSL. Let’s have a look at a few of them.
· This type of certification is best to protect an unlimited number of sub-domains. The best part is, you can secure all these subdomains with only a single Wildcard SSL certificate. Not possible with any other type of SSL certification.
· Wildcard certificate automatically expands along with your business. For example, if you wish to add more sub-domains to your business site, you can do it easily without worrying about security. Because Wildcard automatically covers it as well.
· Management of certificates is way easier in the case of a wildcard. As all of your sub-domains are covered under the single certificate, management becomes way easier. When it comes to other security certificates, you need separate certification for each sub-domain, which is time-consuming.
The Difference between Wildcard SSL and Standard SSL
There are several differences between these two types of certification. But, there are four main differences between these two security certificates. Let’s explore them one by one.
The Number of Domains and Sub-Domains
This is the most obvious difference between them. Wildcard SSL has no limit when it comes to securing sub-domains. It is best to secure even the upcoming sub-domain as well. On the other hand, the standard SSL is best to secure only one primary domain.
Type of The Business They Are Best at Securing
Both these certificates are useful for separate kinds of business. For example, the wildcard is useful for a large business. However, due to limitations, Standard one is useful for small scale businesses.
CSR Generation
In the case of Wildcard SSL, CSR generation is done by inputting the star “*” along with the domain name. This is necessary to include more than one sub-domains now and in the future as well. However, in the case of standard SSL, the use of the star is not necessary. CSR generation happens simply with the input of domain name only.
Availability in Various Kinds of Validations
Standard SSL is available in all kinds of including the Extended, Domain, and Organization Validation. However, Wildcard SSL is not available in all these types of validations. Because CA and browser forums take the wildcard and extended validation separately.
Similarities Between Standard SSL Certificate and Wildcard SSL Certificate
These two security certificates have differences, but they have some important similarities as well. No matter which type of certificate you select, they come with the same level of encryption strength. Normally, both these certificates contain the same 2048-bit signature keys. Besides this, they both help in encryption of up to 256 bits at max. Last but not the least, both these certificates enjoy the worldwide trust of all kinds of browsers. But for this purpose, you need to buy certificates from a trusted Certificate authority.
The Final Words
The Wildcard and Standard SSL are useful for the security of online businesses. They also play important role in securing the client’s data. They both have separate uses, and different businesses have to choose between them according to their requirements. When it comes to security and encryption levels, they both are equally useful. However, there is some difference between them, which are important to talk about. For example, Wildcard is useful for large businesses, where multiple sub-domains of the main sites are used. But, the Standard SSL is good for single primary domains. Similarly, Standard SSL is available in various kinds of validations which is not possible in the case of Wildcard as mentioned above.