Free SSL Certificate provider, Let’s Encrypt have made two noteworthy announcements this year; 1. Revoking 3 million free active Let’s Encrypt certificates on March 4 2020 and 2. Reducing Let’s Encrypt certificates compatibility with other devices starting January 2021.
Your website needs an SSL certificate
Your website with an SSL certificate VS. without SSL certificate installed.
The time and resources devoted to your business over time might have been gone in seconds if your Let’s Encrypt certificate was not renewed. Let’s Encrypt users would have had to crosscheck this list, to identify if their website was amongst the 3 million-plus certificates revoked by the CA (Certificate Authority). If your website’s name was included in the above list, you should consider getting a new SSL certificate to avoid being impacted by their reduced certificate compatibility too.
Certificate authorities are trusted third-party entities who provide digital certificates to organizations that have the need to ensure that their users are provided with secure authentication and connection
Is Lets Encrypt SSL secure?
According to TechCrunch, they have gained the trust of big industry players and are secure. The result of Let’s Encrypt actions to revoke 3 million-plus certificates because of a Certificate Authority Authorization (CAA) bug, identified, did not affect affect the reliability of the security certificate but rather the credibility of the companies brand.
Your website only becomes not secure when you don’t renew your free SSL certificate on time, temporarily your website will lose its layer of security and Google will flag it as ‘not secure’ for people to see.
Is free a SSL certoificate safe?
It is safe but at any time, your certificate could potentially be withdrawn or may not be compatible with other devices. Let’s Encrypt previously outlined in their subscriber agreement, they will revoke certificates if they need and in future will reduce the certificates compatibility impacting certain website users from a visiting a website that has a Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate installed.
Free SSL Vs Paid SSL
The idea of getting a free SSL certificate is welcoming, it’s free and provides basic end-to-end encryption but what happens when your business starts to scale? And you haven’t renewed your Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate? Your customers are going to hold you liable if your website is attacked and sensitive information lands into the wrong hands. Consider paying a small amount to pass this responsibility onto an expert.
How can you install your free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate?
You have a few options:
1. Employ someone in your company to fill this knowledge gap.
2. Find a cost-friendly SSL certificate that includes a warranty.
3. Follow a step-by-step guide and set up your certificate by yourself.
4. Provide basic information to a web security-focused company and pay them to manage, secure and renew your certificate on time.
Make your website a safe place for people to visit, keep in mind, it’s unprofessional to have “not secure” warnings surfacing.
