ZimmerWorks commerce system utilizes SSL
encryption to transfer data to a secure web server (https://).
SSL works
by creating a temporary, shared "key" (sort of a digital code
book) that lets only the computers on either end of a
transmission scramble and unscramble the information. To anyone
between the sender and the receiver, including all the servers that
may relay the message, the SSL transmission is indecipherable
gibberish. SSL makes online ordering just as secure as using your
credit cards anywhere else. In fact, after hundreds of thousands of
on-line transactions, no ZimmerWorks.com customer has
ever reported misappropriation of a credit card number protected by
SSL technology.
Here's how Secure
Sockets Layer (SSL) works:
Exchanging "Hellos"
-
When your browser lands
on a secure Web page, the server that is hosting the Secure Site
sends a "hello request" to your browser. The browser then replies
with a "client hello" response. In networked environments (and
the Web is the granddaddy of all networked environments),
individual PCs are often called "clients." The server, ever the
polite one, responds back with a "server hello." Exchanging all
these "hellos" lets your browser and the server's Web page determine
the encryption and compression standards that they both can
support. They also exchange a "session ID" - a unique identifier
for that specific interaction session. Once they have greeted each
other, the browser asks for the server's "digital certificate"
- it's the on-line e- commerce version of saying "Can I see some ID,
please?"
A Digital Certificate
- On-line companies get
digital certificates from a Certificate Authority, like RSA Data
Security, Inc. or VeriSign, Inc. A Certificate Authority verifies a
company's identification, and then issues to them a unique
certificate ID as proof of their identity.
Sharing the Key
-
After your browser and
our secure server provider have 'shaken hands', and after your
browser has checked our digital certificate for authenticity, then
your browser uses information in our unique digital certificate to
encrypt a message back to us that only our secure server can
understand. Using that information, the browser and the server
create a "master key." This master key is like a codebook
that both sides can use to encode and decode transmissions. Only
your browser and our server share that "master key", and
it's good for only for that individual session. Using this unique,
shared key, your browser and our secure server can exchange
sensitive information, like your credit card number, in a way third
parties can't understand or decipher. When you surf off a secure
site, the master keys you once held in common become useless, since
they are good for one session only. When you go back to that
secure site again, your computer and the secure server will again go
through the whole process, and then create another "master key" for
the new session.
Knowing When You are on a Secure
Site -
You can tell when
you're on a secure site by looking at the drawing of a padlock
or key somewhere along the bottom of your browser's window (Internet
Explorer uses the padlock image; Netscape uses the key
image). If the key image is 'unbroken', or the lock image is
'closed', and the image is ' golden' or 'glowing', that means you're
connected under the cloak of SSL security. Most browsers can also
be set to alert you when you either ' enter' and ' leave' a secure
site.
Is it Safe?
- Our legal
department goes crazy when we speak in absolutes, but SSL does
make your on-line purchase transactions extremely safe. The only
way to break an SSL encryption is with brute force by intercepting
the encrypted message containing your credit card number, recording
it, and then using a sophisticated computer to try every possible
combination until the master key is cracked. To combat even that
approach, most master keys range from 40 to 1,024 digits long (each
digit is either a ' 1' or a ' 0'). As the number of digits in
the key gets longer, the number of possible combinations grows into
the trillions. Therefore, the longer the key is - the more secure
it is. The Internet industry believes strongly in the safety of SSL
technology. All of the Fortune 500 Companies, and even the Federal
Government, use this technology to protect confidential customer
information. And as encryption technology continues to evolve,
ZimmerWorks.com will continue to
maintain the highest industry security standards by incorporating
the newest, even more bulletproof, encryption methods.
