It is a common feature of Web sites today to authenticate visitors before granting them access to confidential information or services available only to approved visitors. The traditional approach to user authentication on the Internet is through passwords using the Basic Authentication feature of the HTTP protocol, which requires the user to present a valid combination of user name and password prior to being granted access to the Web site.
Passwords are cumbersome for the user .
SSL incorporates a challenge-response mechanism based on a public key algorithm with digital signature ability, such as RSA, to authenticate clients in much the same secure way the server is authenticated to the client in an https connection. By comparison, reusable passwords are the same every time. Users need only one CyberFort DigiCert certificate to authenticate themselves to every site they visit . Thus a CyberFort DigiCert serves as a universal log-in to each and every Web site. The only password a user needs to remember is the one that unlocks their private key, and this password is never sent over the network in any form.