[Lizard]

I am being forced to put a SSL certificate on a cancer website because of the exchange of patient sensitive information. Personally myself I wouldn't bother, but a fellow patient who is helping me develop the site is rather insistent. Do you think that a SSL certificate is necessary in this case. We are not using real names and we are collating numerical data relating to a patients health and specific blood counts (like white cell count, Hemoglobin, neutrophils, etc)?

I find the whole matter of these certificates a little confusing having never been down this route before. My hosting service provider, Clock, has all sorts of rules about using SSL Certificates on their servers. They will not install 30 day certificates, self signed certificates or certificates from an unrecognised vendor (eg CACert). And they have to install the certificate.

They (Cook) did make some recommendations as to SSL certificate providers to try, but I have no idea if these are reputable or even suitable. http://www.namecheap.com or https://www.servertastic.com/rapidssl/

I am also being told that what really matters is 'if' the users browser excepts the certification. Otherwise the user gets a warning notice that the site may not be secure. (This is in fact not true, but people don't realize it. The site is still encrypted). How does one find out which browsers the certificates are suitable with?

Could someone please give me some practical advice on what I should be purchasing that will meet my needs.

Many thanks

Robert

[rosiesp]

given the exchange of sensitive information I think SSL is totally justified in this case. Reputable certificate providers include Verisign, Thawte & GeoTrust.

for more info see this verisign page.

[Edit: I'd advise against getting a cheaper 'shared' certificate. Ensure that the cert is issued for your domain only]

[BritZin]

I agree with Rosie, such a site needs SSL Encryption.
Patient Confidentiality is paramount in medical cases and as such, needs to be kept private at all costs.

I also second her suggestions for providers, very reputable, reliable and well known.

[Lizard]

[quote

Patient Confidentiality is paramount in medical cases and as such, needs to be kept private at all costs.

[/quote]

The thing is that many of these patients (some 2000) participate in on-line discussion forums and much of the information is generally discussed. People talk about how cancer affects them and as part of the process we talk about patient blood count numbers.

I have the opinion that patients who participate in on-line forums do not have a high regard to their personal and very specific information.

Maybe I have it all wrong as I am too close to the situation.

I do however here what you are saying and you have modified my views. So is there such a thing as a good quality, but cheep, SSL certificate?

Regards

Robert