In the last few years more companies are switching over to using SSL security for all of their online transactions as the use of the X 509 certificate has been found to provide a much higher level of security when compared to the older SSH security protocols that were in use. SSL protocols not only require a key as the SSH protocol did, they also require further information about the owner of the certificate to ensure complete protection.
The X 509 Certificate Is Issued by a Certificate Authority
The X 509 certificate is typically issued by a Certificate Authority as they considered to be a reliable source that has taken the required steps to verify the identity of the company who they are issuing the X 509 certificate to in order to protect the company who owns the certificate. This also protects the public who will be counting on the owner to protect any information that they share over the Internet such as contact information, credit card information or private data.