Let's Encrypt is now the largest SSL certificate issuer for websites with 51.21% domain usage
https://nettrack.info/ssl_certificate_issuers.html
SSL Certificates are used to encrypt data between 2 points. For example your web browser and a web server. Most banks, online stores and other websites that deal with sensitive information use SSL encryption to protect the data you are sending over the internet. Normally webmasters need to buy an SSL certificate from a SSL certificate vendor, (with the exception of Let's Encrypt).