Monday, April 27, 2009

Obtaining a Free Fully Trusted SSL Certificate

Ever get that popup when you visited a supposedly "secure" website that says the certificate is not trusted? Reason you get that popup is because the person who signed/issued the certificate is not trusted by default on your computer.

The business of selling certificates is a lucrative one. Large certificate authorities such as Thawte and VeriSign make a killing issuing digital certifcates. They can arbitrarily adjust the parameters on the certificate and charge for it on a case by case basis. The reason they are able to do so is because almost every computer by default trusts these companies. You can check this in Windows by going to start, run, mmc.exe and adding the Certificate snap in. Look under Trusted Root Certification Authorities.

In general you have to pay quite a bit of money to get a certificate signed by one of these authorities. However there is one way to get a virtually "free" one.

Thawte offers a program called their Web of Trust:

https://www.thawte.com/cgi/personal/wot/contents.exe

Basically after going through the steps Thawte will give you a free certificate signed by an authority called "Thawte Personal Freemail CA". Because this CA is installed by default on all Windows installations it is trusted everywhere.

Getting this certificate involves a combination of sending in documents to Thawte or finding people who have already gone through the process to vouch for you. Once you have it though you keep it forever (as far as I can see) and can generate certificates with your e-mail address in it.

16 comments:

Kasper said...

for anyone that might want a link to the sign up page, see here.

Unknown said...

I really liked your blog content, and i am big fan of internet business security.
I's just passing away from your blog and thought let me share you a great opportunity which i found couple of days before in a forum network.

Are you willing to attend a free seminar to get free ssl certificate?
If yes than click below, i know that you must like it.

https://www.thesslstore.com/event/internet-security-seminar.aspx

anu said...

Thanks for this article. This article extends to provide added information about a website's authenticity. I bought the SSL certificate from the tucktail.

Julie said...

Thanks for posting Jeff. I personally used a website called SSL 247 to organize the ssl web certificate for the retail website I am setting up as I wasn't 100% confident on doing it without some assistance.

Unknown said...

It's an interesting post because it's an interesting development that challenges the market leaders of Thawte and more popularly Verisign. But particularly for smaller online based clients obtaining a Free SSL Certificate is a good start to show your customers you care about their data protection and privacy.

nsnill99 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I also using SSL Certificate from TheSSLStore. Its available there in the cheapest price from the market. I m now relaxed for my business as per customers' perspective.

Vicky said...

I don't personally think the fact that someone has paid for an imaginary protocol automatically makes their website safe. This market is an obvious monopolation and the acquisition of any web certificate should be a quick and painless process for the consumer, and not one that is subject to such rediculous pricing.

Anonymous said...

Great information about the ssl certificate It's great stuff. I learn ssl related informations through your blogs only thanks to sharing
How To Rgister a Domain

SSL Cert News said...

it's really good content about Free and Trusted SSL certificate. It's in-depth understanding of Trusted SSL certificate. Thank you so much for sharing it!

SSL Cert News said...

Agree Jeff, whether its free SSL certificate or else
Cheap SSL certificate but it should be trusted and highly recommended by web security expert. Trusted SSL certificates won't relax only users but it also comprehensive security for web servers.

Sarah Whitehead said...

I personally get my ssl certificates from here. Anyway I find it way too confusing and leave the matters to my webmaster.

Online Store said...

i was bought from resellerclub but their is worst support never resolve customer case problem

jnrmanagement said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jnrmanagement said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jnrmanagement said...

One can opt for free ssl certificate as well. I know a best ssl certificate authority, which is known as mysslonline. You can ask for free certificates or paid ones. I am sure that you will get the best solution to your inquiry. Their support is great, I was able to install ssl certificate on my own. So cool. :)