Republished with Permission - Original Article
SSL
enables browsers to communicate with a web-server over a secure channel that
prevents eavesdropping, tampering and message forgery. You
should always use SSL for login pages where users are entering
usernames/passwords, as well as for all other sensitive pages on sites (for
example: account pages that show financial or personal information).
Configuring SSL on Windows with previous versions of IIS has
been a pain. Figuring out how to install and manage a certificate, and
then associate it with a web-site, is something I bet most web developers don't
know how to enable.
The good news is that IIS 7.0 makes it radically easier to
configure and enable SSL. IIS 7.0 also now has built-in support for
creating "Self Signed Certificates" that enable you to easily create
test/personal certificates that you can use to quickly SSL enable a site for
development or test purposes.
Using IIS 7.0 you can SSL enable an existing web site in
under 30 seconds. The below tutorial demonstrates how to-do this.