SSL certificates enable secure communication between two parties, such as when you visit a website and enter your login credentials. It’s important to note that an SSL certificate only protects the data that is sent between the client and server, not the data that is stored on either side. An SSL certificate provides security for your data because it encrypts it with a key that can only be decrypted by the intended recipient. This means that even if someone was to intercept the encrypted data during transmission, it would be useless without the decryption key.