SSL Certificates provide a summary of the following services:

• Certification of the server from the client.
• Certification of the client from the server.
• Establish a secure encrypted communication channel between the two parties.

The cryptographic algorithms supported by the protocol are:
DES – Data Encryption Standard, DSA – Digital Signature Algorithm, KEA – Key Exchange Algorithm,
MD5 – Message Digest, RC2/RC4, RSA, SHA-1 – Secure Hash Algorithm, SKIPJACK, Triple-DES.

Operation

The SSL protocol uses a combination of public and symmetric encryption key. The symmetric key encryption is much faster and more efficient than public key encryption, however the second option offers better technical certification. Each SSL connection always starts with the exchange of messages from the server and the client until a secure connection occurs (handshake). The handshake allows the server to establish the identity of the client using public key encryption techniques and then allows the client and server to work together to create a symmetric key to be used to quickly encrypt and decrypt data exchanged between them. Optionally, the handshake allows the client to prove its identity to the server.