'Net Features : ssl

Receive Alerts on SSL Certification Expiration

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 17:00:00 GMT

Remote application monitoring tool Stackify this week released CertAlert.me, a free service to monitor websites and provide alerts before SSL (secure socket layer) certificates or domain names expire.

“Most companies have SSL certificates and domain names, but typically nobody is directly responsible for them. They fall in a gray area,” said Matt Watson, Stackify’s founder. “Unfortunately, forgetting to renew SSL certificates is a common problem; in fact, it’s happened to me before. You buy them, install them and forget about them.”

Users of the free Stackify service receive a domain report and subsequent periodic email reports about the status of their SSL certifications and domain names. The service can be used for both organizational websites as well as third-party services that companies depend on.

GlobalSign Accelerates SSL-Certified Pages

Michael Garrity — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 16:15:00 GMT

One of the world’s largest SSL certificate providers, GlobalSign, has partnered with Web performance and security company CloudFlare to significantly accelerate the load speeds and reduce the geographical delay of SSL-secured Web pages. And best of all, this speedy service comes at no additional charge or configuration requirements for GlobalSign customers.

After integrating the technology of these companies, GlobalSign has been able to increase load speeds by as much as six times that of traditional SSL. The hope is that by noticeably improving the performance of SSL-secured Web pages, the company will foster wider acceptance and adoption of SSL certificates that help Web businesses reduce the risk of data breaches, compromised sites and, most important, customer identity theft and fraud. Of course, it also helps that faster performing websites tend to increase customer loyalty and diminish site abandonment rates.

Historically, many sites have refrained from implementing SSL on their sites outside of their login or checkout pages out of a fear that it would disrupt the end-user experience. But now, as a result of its collaboration with CloudFlare, when browsers visit GlobalSign-protected websites, they can validate the certificates much quicker. This is because of CloudFlare’s network of 23 global datacenters that reduce the amount of time it takes a Certificate Authority (CA) SSL to deliver an SSL certificate’s validity status to the browser.

In addition, this CloudFlare’s international network provides resilience to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks to protect GlobalSign Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) services, which indicate the validity status of its SSL certificates.

But that’s not all in the way of recent news for GlobalSign. Earlier this week, the company announced the general availability of its new (and free) SSL Configuration Checker online service that lets website administrators confirm that their SSL is configured correctly across all of their websites; the service even provides actionable insights and guidance on how they can fix any questionable or exploitable configurations, as well.

When SSL is accurately configured, it dramatically improves the performance of the website and strengthens its ability to secure the site, offering a defense against cyber criminality, such as SSL BEAST, CRIME and other attacks that target faulty SSL configurations.

The service integrates Qualys SSL Labs assessment technology, which audits SSL ecosystems, raises awareness and provides tools and documentation for website owners that allow them to improve their SSL implementations.

SSL Configuration Checker can be used by any organization by simply visiting sslcheck.globalsign.com, where users just have to enter the URL of the site they want to check. Following a quick test, the service will return a letter grade of the site’s configuration, along with a brief explanation of any issues it finds and some remediation steps they can follow to correct the issue(s).

The tool is already available in an array of languages, including Dutch, English, French, Japanese, German, Spanish and Russian.

OneClickSSL Plugin for DirectAdmin

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 14:40:00 GMT

Security solution provider GlobalSign announced that its OneClickSSL plug-in is now available for DirectAdmin’s web hosting control panel.

The OneClickSSL plugin enables hosting companies to provide their clients with a user-friendly means to activate SSL (secure socket layers) from the control panel. The system automatically generates the cryptographic key, validates control of the website and then installs the issued certificate. No fuss, no muss. The plugin is already available for other popular Web hosting control panels including Plesk, Microsoft IIS, cPanel and ISPsystem.

“Integrating GlobalSign’s OneClickSSL technology allows our hosting customers to greatly simplify the whole SSL process, whilst fully delivering on our core strategy – to provide customers with a simplified user experience”, says Mark Kapowsky, Owner, DirectAdmin. “We are pleased to make this innovative technology accessible via our platform to help hosting companies meet the increasing demand for SSL security.”

Impact of Google Search's SSL Change

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 03:35:00 GMT

The encryption standard SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) should be familiar to digital workers, particuarly Internet retailers. Whenever private data is in play - whether via banking, shopping, or even sharing information - SSL will make an appearance.

SSL in fact has become a core encryption technology on the Web in the past five years. Google has, in good form I believe, largely encouraged SSL use on its own services, including within Gmail and in January 2010's release of an encrypted search service. Google is not the only big data company leveraging SSL - Facebook and Twitter have also shown the love for SSL in recent months.

In its pursuit of protecting user privacy however, Google has made it much harder for digital marketers to access keyword referral information. Google announced last month that it will be applying SSL to search queries and that has caused quite a bit of blowback from the SEO community.

What the development means is that if you are tracking keyword usage data - this also applies to the providers of search marketing software solutions - then the referral information received won't be nearly as accurate. Google has indicated that at least ten percent of its traffic will be using its encrypted search (available when users are logged into their Google account) but many estimate that the number will be much, much higher over time.

While there are reports containing keyword referral information available within Google Webmaster Tools, they are too infrequently updated - with only a 30 day refresh of the data - to help strategists compete in a digital age when freshness matters almost as much authority.

What is a Multiple Domain (UCC) SSL Certificate?

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 13:00:00 GMT

If you are selling online then you should be familiar with an SSL certificate. But what about a UCC SSL Certificate?

Unified Communications Certificates (UCC) are SSL Certificates that secure multiple domains and multiple hostnames within a domain. They allow you to secure a primary domain, and up to 99 additional Subject Alternative Names, in a single certificate. UCCertificates are ideal for Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007, Exchange Server 2010, and Microsoft Live® Communications Server.

UC Certificates are compatible with shared hosting however, the site seal and certificate "Issued To" will only list the primary domain. Please note that any secondary hosting accounts will be listed in the certificate as well, so if you do not want sites to appear 'connected' to each other, you should not use this type of certificate.

SSL Trials from Symantec/Verisign

Design & Development Digest : feature — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 17:36:00 GMT

If you’re in the market for a SSL Certificate – check this out. Symantec this week launched a free trial of all its VeriSign Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Certificates, including a free trial of a fully functional Extended Validation (EV) SSL...(read more)

Comodo Offers HackerGuardian for SSL Certificate Purchase

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:41:00 GMT

As Website Magazine gets closer to its upcoming Web hosting edition (distributed in October 2010), our interest is piqued by pretty much anything and everything related to the topic - and today's no different.

Internet security company Comodo is offering a free annual subscription to HackerGuardian with every purchase of an SSL certificate. If you're concerned about the online security of your customers, this at least deserves a serious look.

HackerGuardian is PCI scanning tool that scans externally facing IPs and generates reports detailing found vulnerabitlities and supplies the merchant with the information needed to fix any issues. HackerGuardian even proviees all the necessary documentation that a merchant is required to send to their acquiring bank to validate quarterly PCI compliance is included with the HackerGuardian solution.

“We are delighted to be able to offer our customers this free HackerGuardian service for one year,” said Melih Abdulhayoglu, Comodo CEO and chief security architect. “This powerful combination of SSL and HackerGuardian helps businesses to address the mandatory nature of PCI compliance and to meet those requirements.

Automated SSL Certificate Verification Service

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 15:00:00 GMT

Authentication and encryption service provider DigiCert has unveiled an automated SSL certificate verification service to ensure Web services are properly secured.

The service automatically checks every SSL certificate issued to ensure all are functioning properly after installation. The automated certificate checker verifies that both the certificate and any necessary intermediate certificates have been correctly installed on your server. If any problems are identified, DigiCert will contact the customer directly with an explanation of the error and the instructions on how to resolve it.

SSL certificates encrypt the transfer of sensitive information online. From online shopping to secure email messages or even private health records, SSL certificates have a wide variety of applications in every industry.

“Our new automated certificate checker has been a very successful service for our customers and our support team,” says Flavio Martins, Vice President of Support and Validation. “This service can identify various installation problems, including intermediate certificate issues and name mismatch errors. If a problem is identified, we send an email to the customer explaining the error and also include the steps to fix it. Additionally, our support team is readily available and willing to assist customers with completing proper installation and resolving any errors.”

GoDaddy versus Verisign [SSL Certificates]

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:00:00 GMT

With the online holiday shopping season fast approaching, SSL certificates (which provide server to browser encryption, the padlock icon and the familiar https prefix to secure a website) are the focus of many merchants. So where are merchants turning for their SSL certificate needs these days? By the looks of it, they are going to GoDaddy.

In its Netcraft LTD Secure Server Survey for November 2009, the analyst firm announced that GoDaddy's overall SSL market share has grown four times faster than VeriSign's during the past year. NetCraft projected that GoDaddy would pass long-time market leader VeriSign in less than 18 months. GoDaddy apparently does not want to wait that long and is now offering its EV SSL Certificate for $99. Obtaining a relatively identical security level at VeriSign would cost more than $1400.

“The reason for our growth is simple - our customers are smart enough to know they can get a world-class SSL Cert without having to pay through the roof,” said GoDaddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. “You could purchase 14 GoDaddy Certificates for the same price as a single VeriSign Cert, not to mention the great support our customers enjoy.”

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Google Introduces SSL Certification Error Messages

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:12:00 GMT

Some webmasters are receiving warnings from Google Webmaster Tools about SSL certification issues.

Google is apparently (with some difficulty) notifying users when the host name of their site does not match any of the "Subject Names" in their SSL certications. The result of these error is often that Web browsers will often block users from accessing the site or display a security warning when a site without a proper SSL is accessed.

Google's John Mu responded in a forum thread that Google has added the messages to inform webmasters of issues with regards to their SSL certifications. The informational message does not affect site crawling, indexing or ranking.

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NameCheap Offers Free Comodo PositiveSSL

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:30:00 GMT

Domain name registration and web hosting provider Namecheap is offering a free Comodo PositiveSSL certificate with any purchase.

The free SSL comes with IDAuthority, a real-time identity assurance service developed by Comodo that enables website identities to be verified against registry and public data.

NameCheap's CEO Rick Kirkendall is happy to offer the PositiveSSL to all customers. "Because SSLs are crucial for any site transmitting sensitive information it is important for any website to provide their clients with this added security. A lot of other companies overcharge for them. This is a great value we are offering for NameCheap customers and we are glad to have Comodo as a partner in this. Hopefully this will allow a lot of those smaller ecommerce website operators an easy way to secure their client's personal information," said NameCheaps's CEO Rick Kirkendall.

Thawte Unveils 4 & 5 Year SSL Certificates

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:31:00 GMT

Thawte has introduced additional term validity options for a number of our SSL certificates. Longer term validity means fewer certificate renewal enrolments and installations saving you time, money and hassle. If you've ever had to go through the SSL renewal process, you may be jumping up and down right now. Here are the thawte certificates that are available in four and five year terms:

SGC SuperCerts: A premium SSL certificate with Server Gated Cryptography that provides automatic 128-bit step-up encryption, yet capable of 256-bit encryption, and full authentication.
SSL Web Server Certificates: A secure SSL certificate that provides full authentication and is capable of 256-bit encryption.
SSL123 Certificates: A domain validated SSL certificate that is capable of 256-bit encryption and is issued within minutes.