Owning a website or wanting to create a website, both pretty much a necessity to have an SSL Certificate. SSL Certificate is recommended to protect your website and its user’s data from cybercrimes. Wildcard SSL Certificates used an asterisk symbol before the domain name to encrypt. They are used for websites that has more than one sub-domain. Wildcard SSL Certificate has its own characteristics that makes it worth purchasing for a website. Google certainly recommends an SSL Certificate for every website and to remain secure from any form of phishing attacks and social engineering attacks. Also, a website having an SSL certificate has an upper hand in getting the visibility and higher ranking in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) compared to the websites that do not own an SSL Certificate.
Standard SSL is the entry level certificate that is recommended by Google to be validated as a secure website.
Let us see about Wildcard SSL and Standard SSL Certificate and their differences.
Wildcard SSL Certificate
Wildcard SSL Certificates are mainly considered when you need too many sub-domains under a single domain name. Wildcard SSL Certificate provides an unlimited number of first-level sub-domains on a single main domain name. This eventually saves you a lot of money. Getting an SSL Certificate for the single domain and you don’t have to invest money on getting it for every sub-domain. Wildcard SSL Certificate offers unlimited secure sub-domains. They are easy to deploy and manage. It is cost-effective.
For instance: An SSL Certificate under a single name *.mydomain.com
There are only one certificate and a private key on multiple servers, and if a situation occurs where one server is compromised, then it starts a domino effect – it exposes the others at the same time. Security is a concern when it comes to the Wildcard SSL Certificate. When such an incident takes place, then you have to replace and re-issue all the certificates in every server effective immediately. However, in certain situations and depending on the provider they allow you to generate new Wildcard SSL Certificates via unique private keys.
It has a drawback as they are not compatible with certain mobile devices. There is a certain mobile device OS that does not familiarize with (*) and unfortunately, they aren’t compatible with Wildcard SSL Certificate. In such circumstances, you may have to use a UC Certificate or a Wildcard Certificate with Subject Alternative Names.
Standard SSL
Standard SSL Certificate evaluates the authentication and identity of who owns a website. It assures that the communication shared between the browser and the server is secure to gain customer trust. It provides encryption up to 256 bits.
It uses encryption for sensitive information containing usernames, passwords, and banking details of the users. Standard SSL Certificates are available at 3 validation levels. It uses data encryption using a cryptographical methodology that has a Public Key and a Private Key. Therefore, the public key is used for data encryption and the private key is used for data decryption. It protects the information shared across the Internet and keeps cyber intruders at bay.
Getting a Standard SSL Certificate is relatively fast and it’s easier. It is cheaper and it is compatible with mobile devices too. Google approves the Standard SSL Certificate for websites and boosts the ranking results in search engines.
Wildcard SSL and Standard SSL: Difference
Wildcard SSL allows you to add n number of first-level sub-domains. However, it doesn’t extend security to the sub-domains. However, this SSL Certificate can’t be bought with Extended Validation (EV). Hence, Domain Validation Certificate is to be opted to purchase a Wildcard SSL Certificate. Standard SSL uses 256-bit encryption, whereas Wildcard SSL secures websites with multiple sub-domains.
In order to understand which SSL Certificate to purchase for your website, solely depends on your needs. When you have a website and you are positive about not wanting to add multiple domains, then it is recommended to purchase a Standard SSL Certificate. On the contrary, when you are owning a website that requires sub-domains, then, in that case, choosing Wildcard SSL would be appropriate. It would be a smart investment.