[Hugop]

I thought that SSL Certificates could only be purchased from domain name/hosting providers, but I found out today that they can be purchased outside of those providers. By searching longer on Google, I found out that there are different types of SSL Certificates, free SSL Certificates and open-source too. I am not sure anymore what SSL Certificates are, but I have many questions that I couldn't find out on the web.

Free SSL Certificate (beta): https://letsencrypt.org/howitworks/

- Are those SSL Certificates valid?
- Are they SSL Certificates or simulating them?
- Is it a good idea to have a free SSL Certificate instead of none?
- What is the difference between the SSL Certificates from the hosting/domain name providers and outside those providers?
- Using a free SSL Certificate, is https going to work fine as it is supposed to work(no warning, encryption, etc.)?

[Sam]

An SSL certificate allows a browser to open a secured encrypted web connection with a webserver. Effectively, the definition of a valid SSL certificate is ultimately agreed upon by the browser developers. If you look at the current sponsors of the project, https://letsencrypt.org/sponsors/, both Chrome (Google) and Mozilla appear (as do other important organisations such as EFF and OVH). I haven't personally tried LetsEncrypt but I am sure it is supported by all the major browsers (you will see the green SSL bar). If you want to give it a try, you might wish to check out BuyShared.net (or hosts here: https://github.com/letsencrypt/letsencr ... porting-LE) as they already support it on their shared servers.

[kat82]

I thought that SSL Certificates could only be purchased from domain name/hosting providers, but I found out today that they can be purchased outside of those providers. By searching longer on Google, I found out that there are different types of SSL Certificates, free SSL Certificates and open-source too. I am not sure anymore what SSL Certificates are, but I have many questions that I couldn't find out on the web.

Free SSL Certificate (beta): https://letsencrypt.org/howitworks/

- Are those SSL Certificates valid?
- Are they SSL Certificates or simulating them?
- Is it a good idea to have a free SSL Certificate instead of none?
- What is the difference between the SSL Certificates from the hosting/domain name providers and outside those providers?
- Using a free SSL Certificate, is https going to work fine as it is supposed to work(no warning, encryption, etc.)?

I have tried and used Letsencrypt free SSL certificates and they are valid. Yes, the only problem is that you must know to install on your server or even use the SSL certificate plugin if you are WordPress user. They are also valid for 3 months where you have to manually renew.

[Sojourn]

I thought that SSL Certificates could only be purchased from domain name/hosting providers, but I found out today that they can be purchased outside of those providers. By searching longer on Google, I found out that there are different types of SSL Certificates, free SSL Certificates and open-source too. I am not sure anymore what SSL Certificates are, but I have many questions that I couldn't find out on the web.

Free SSL Certificate (beta): https://letsencrypt.org/howitworks/

- Are those SSL Certificates valid?
- Are they SSL Certificates or simulating them?
- Is it a good idea to have a free SSL Certificate instead of none?
- What is the difference between the SSL Certificates from the hosting/domain name providers and outside those providers?
- Using a free SSL Certificate, is https going to work fine as it is supposed to work(no warning, encryption, etc.)?

I have tried and used Letsencrypt free SSL certificates and they are valid. Yes, the only problem is that you must know to install on your server or even use the SSL certificate plugin if you are WordPress user. They are also valid for 3 months where you have to manually renew.

Ok, it is like a "trial" SSL certificate because it is valid just for 3 months, and this is the most important catch. SSL issuing authorities do not give away certificates for free ,and I was becoming a bit surprised and skeptical reading this article. This might be a clever tactic to lure in customers and make them use SSL on their sites. But from the consumer perspective, the move is welcome, as the web would become more secure.

[Mika]

I use free SSL from lets encrypt on my wordpress site. If you have a wordpress site it is easy to use let's encrypto through a plugin