93
votes
Accepted
Why should I pay for an SSL certificate?
Why should I pay for an SSL certificate?
For most uses, there's no good reason to pay for them.
See the very bottom for a summary of the exceptions.
Let's take a step back and explain what ...
- 814
85
votes
Accepted
What is the benefit of forcing a site to load over SSL (HTTPS)?
HTTPS does not just provide secrecy (of which you are doubting the value, though there are good reasons for it still) but also authenticity, which is always of value. Without it, a malicious access ...
50
votes
What events caused mass migration to HTTPS?
There are a lot of factors that went into it including:
Browser and server technology for security with virtual hosts. You used to need a dedicated IP address per secure site, but that is not the ...
42
votes
Accepted
Do I have to pay a web hosting company for an SSL certificate?
SSL certificates need to be installed in the server config, so for "typical web hosting" your hosting provider can easily restrict your ability to add your own certs (and even generating ...
- 8,213
33
votes
Accepted
How do I get my site verified such that it shows a green box in Chrome's address bar?
The 'green box' in the Chrome address bar isn't anything to do with verification by Google - as Stephen alluded to in the comments on your question, it's an indication that your site has an Extended ...
- 1,256
29
votes
How do I get my site verified such that it shows a green box in Chrome's address bar?
As Tim Malone said, this is a special type of SSL certificate that is usually sold at a premium by certificate authorities. The going rate is usually at least a couple of hundred dollars.
What Tim ...
- 391
26
votes
Accepted
StartSSL certificate gives SEC_ERROR_REVOKED_CERTIFICATE in Firefox and ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID in Chrome
I have some bad news for you. StartSSL's certificates are no longer trusted by Chrome, Firefox, and soon other browsers, beginning with newly issued certificates first. StartSSL won't tell you this of ...
- 2,291
25
votes
What is the benefit of forcing a site to load over SSL (HTTPS)?
"nothing secret on the site"
...According to you. There migh be a perfectly fine reason someone wants a secure connection. It (partly) creates privacy:
My admin can see that I'm browsing some ...
- 6,806
23
votes
Do I need a certificate to redirect via CNAME?
Neverever's answer is correct. You do need an SSL certificate. I wanted to add that it is because there is no such thing as a CNAME redirect.
A CNAME is not a redirect. A CNAME instructs the ...
- 99.3k
20
votes
Shield Icons on Google Results Page
I am almost certain that those shield icons are not a Google Search feature, as I have never seen or heard of them before and cannot find any mention of them on the internet. If my hunch is correct, ...
- 16.3k
19
votes
What events caused mass migration to HTTPS?
The answers thus far talk about various pull and push reasons as to why HTTPS is becoming more and more popular.
However, there are 2 major wake-up calls from around 2010 and 2011 that showed how ...
17
votes
Accepted
Do ISPs cache HTTPS web pages?
If they provide an HTTP proxy service you use, they can cache on the fly.
If they do not pervert the HTTPS stream (which starts by changing the server certificate exposed and/or changing the CAs you ...
- 8,485
17
votes
Accepted
Why is a link to www.example.software not working?
A link like <a href="www.example.software"> is defined by the HTML/HTTP spec as a relative link.
If you are currently on https://www.example.software/ it would result in the URL ...
- 99.3k
15
votes
How do I get my site verified such that it shows a green box in Chrome's address bar?
I think this question deserves a bit more background...
There's different types of SSL/TLS certificates that can be issued by a Certificate Authority (CA), who basically acts like a notary, certifying ...
- 376
15
votes
Shield Icons on Google Results Page
This looks similar to the Avast Browser Extension, as mentioned on Sitepoint:
Only people who have this extension will see these shields. If I recall, it's not difficult to accidentally install this ...
- 390
14
votes
Does SSL require a client side certificate of any kind at all?
The typical case of certificates issued by a trusted party (Let's Encrypt etc)
Server certificates are essential because the client needs to verify that it speaks with the expected server in order to ...
- 651
12
votes
What is the benefit of forcing a site to load over SSL (HTTPS)?
You get HTTP/2 support, the new web standard designed to significantly improve website loading speeds.
Because browser makers have chosen to support HTTP/2 only over HTTPS, enabling HTTPS (on a ...
- 696
12
votes
What events caused mass migration to HTTPS?
There was what became to be called Operation Aurora which (allegedly) was Chinese crackers breaking into USA computers like Google's.
Google went public with Operation Aurora in 2010. Seems they ...
12
votes
How to avoid SSL warnings about certificate not for the current site when redirecting alternate domains?
Cloudflare is a free solution for redirecting your alternate domains with HTTPS support. Here are detailed instructions for setting it up:
Visit Cloudflare
Create an account and verify your email ...
- 99.3k
12
votes
Accepted
Do I need a certificate to redirect via CNAME?
Yes, you'll still need an SSL certificate for abc.example.com
Due to the nature of CNAME redirection, when you type abc.example.com in the browser, the URL stays abc.example.com, and this is where ...
- 281
12
votes
Do I have to pay a web hosting company for an SSL certificate?
Some hosting companies require that you pay them for their SSL certificates. It is not always possible to install a certificate from a third party.
That being said, such a host is rare. Most ...
- 99.3k
11
votes
Switching domain from HTTPS to HTTP
Why not get a free SSL certificate from Lets Encrypt, then your https will work. Ride the horse in the direction it is going...
- 8,511
11
votes
How to optimize the load time of initial connection and SSL handshake phase of a web page on a 3G network?
Initial Connection
You will find that the initial connection includes negotiating the SSL, so since the handshake is high, its a good indicator that something is seriously wrong with the way you have ...
- 33k
11
votes
Accepted
In what path I can find the .crt file for Let's Encrypt SSL?
After successfully running Lets Encrypt for example.com, the latest certificate files can be found in the following location:
/etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem
/etc/letsencrypt/live/...
- 99.3k
10
votes
What is the benefit of forcing a site to load over SSL (HTTPS)?
(Parts taken from my answer to a similar question.)
HTTPS can achieve two things:
Authentication. Making sure that the visitor is communicating with the real domain owner.
Encryption. Making sure ...
- 21.8k
10
votes
Is incorrect to have the HTTPS version of the sitemaps.org URL in the xmlns sitemap schema?
The value of the xmlns attribute is to uniquely identify a namespace (the "namespace URI"). It does not relate to whether your site is serving content over HTTP or HTTPS - for this it makes no ...
- 4,297
10
votes
Accepted
What can I do to pay less for SSL?
You no longer need an IP address for each site. There are two possibilities.
You could get one subject alternative name (SAN) certificate that covers all your domains. SAN certificates have ...
- 99.3k
9
votes
Performance: 4096 Bit RSA-Key compared to 2048 bit RSA-Key
Use OpenSSL's speed command to benchmark the two types and compare results. Here's an example command to run on the server to compare only the key types and sizes you mention:
openssl speed rsa2048 ...
- 2,291
9
votes
Accepted
Will HTTP hyperlinks on HTTPS pages trigger mixed content warnings?
If I understand your question, then you're saying that, your site now serve with https and you want to link your friend site with http protocol.
Then it's totally fine, anchor links does not cause ...
- 5,507
9
votes
Accepted
Does SSL require a client side certificate of any kind at all?
Your friend is correct. The browser has to have the root certification authority certificate, so that it can verify that the server certificate has been signed by a legitimate certification authority.
- 2,291
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible