SSL certificates are the most important part of web security. SSL is used to encrypt the web traffic between the server and the client. HTTPS protocol simply implements the SSL to make HTTP protocol secure.
SSL Certificate
SSL certificates are issued to the specific domain or hostname to distinguish given domain or hostname secure and well known. SSL certificate will both encrypt and authenticate the site.
Open SSL Certificate From Address Bar in Google Chrome
SSL certificates can be opened in different ways in a Google Chrome browser. The first and most practical way is using the address bar. Open the web page you want to view SSL certificate. In most of the cases, the web pages will redirect you to the HTTPS version of the site even you enter an HTTP version URL. We will see a lock icon in the right of the URL bar if the web site is secured with an SSL certificate. We will just lick to this lock sign like below.
We will list a menu list that contains Certiface
,Cookies
and Site settings
. If the SSL certificate is values we will see a (Valid)
text after the certificate. We cill click to the Certificate
like below.

Then we will see the following screen which provides the certificate information and details.
Open SSL Certificate From Developer Tools in Google Chrome
The SSL certificate can be also viewed from the Developer Tools menu in Google Chrome. First, we will open the Developer Tools menu with the following keyboard shortcuts.
- For Windows and Linux `F12` or `CTRL + SHIFT + i`
- For Mac `⌘ + Option + i`
Then we will navigate to the Security
tab of the given Developer Tools menu like below. We will see some basic information about the HTTPS connection of an SSL certificate. For more detailed information we can click to the View certificate
button.

SSL Certificate Details in Google Chrome
Now we have opened the SSL certificate window of Google Chrome for given web site. We can list or view the details by navigating General
, Details
and Certification Path
tabs.
SSL Certificate General Tab
SSL Certificate General tab provides general and short information about the SSL certificate like the purpose of the certificate, issued to issued by and valid data range.
- `This certificate is intended for the following purposes`
- `Ensured the identity of a remote computer`
- `Proves your identity to a remote computer`
- `Issued to` will provide the certificate owner web address or domain name which is poftut.com in this case.
- `Issued by` will provide which certificate authority is issued this certificate.
- `Valid from` will provide the start and end dates of this certificate validity.

SSL Certificate Details Tab

SSL Certificate Details tab will provide technical details about this SSL certificate.
- `Version` is the SSL certificate version which is 3 in this case.
- `Serial Number` is a unique serial number that identifies this SSL certificate.
- `Signature algorithm` is this certificate signature algorithm.
- `Issuer` is the certificate authority that issued this certificate.
- `Valid From` is the start date of this certificate validity.
- `Valid to` is the end date of the certificate validity.
- `Subject` is the main aim or web address of the certificate which will be used.
SSL Certification Path Tab
SSL Certificate Path tab will show the path of the issuers this certificate. A certificate can be issued by a single of multiple certificate authorities.
