SSL is an Internet Protocol that establishes a secure encrypted link between commputers. It is most often used for e-commerce checkout so that any financial information sent or received is encrypted, making it virtually impossible for a third party to extract anything useful from the communcations.

Not all SSL certificates are created equal. In order for your browser to initialize the prototocol it checks the Certificiate Authority for a recognized root signature key. If it does not recognize the Certificate Authority or the certificiate is expired or not property configured, your browser will popup a window before allowing you to continue.

Our monitoring system actually checks the site certificate in use and verifies that it is from a recognized source. Any changes in status are logged.