There is a lot of talk around using https “everywhere” these days, even on websites that do not do any financial transactions or accept user data input. Google already uses https as a factor in search results (though it’s a small factor, and not universally used in results everywhere in the world). But they have made it clear that their intention is to expand the use of https as a search results ranking factor next year.
All of which has a lot of people who may have never considered using an SSL certificate before looking in to making the move to SSL/https. The main barrier for a lot of people isn’t the technical issues around implementing an SSL certificate, but rather the price. SSL certificates cost money. Some of them (like those with “Extended Validation”) cost a considerable amount of money.
A group of security-minded people thought there should be a free alternative, so they got together and the open source Let’s Encrypt project was started (by the Internet Security Research Group, with support from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Mozilla Foundation, Akamai, and Cisco Systems). Let’s Encrypt is now up and running, issuing free SSL certificates to anyone who wants one.
Pretty great, right? Well, yes and no.
For instance, if you want one of those Extended Validation certificates, you can’t get it from Let’s Encrypt. Organization Validation, Extended Validation and wildcard certificates are not available. Let’s Encrypt does not verify sites, so if you want a security “seal” to put on your site or order form, you can’t get it from Let’s Encrypt.
That’s right, Let’s Encrypt does not verify sites, which means hackers are building malicious sites using Let’s Encrypt certificates because they’re free and the bad guys can remain anonymous. Wait a minute, though – isn’t validation the whole reason for a security certificate in the first place? And what will become of the Let’s Encrypt certificates if their system becomes overrun with malware and phishing sites?
Even if you don’t care about any of those things, the Let’s Encrypt certificates have a major convenience drawback, because the certificates are only valid for 90 days. That means that every three months you have to request a new Let’s Encrypt certificate and install it on the server, and that process is no fun. Especially on Windows servers (like those at Winhost), since there is not any server-side automation available.
But increasing security is never a bad thing. And don’t forget, Google is going to look more favorably on https sites very soon, so an SSL certificate should be on your to-do list, no matter what kind of site you run. If you want to use Let’s Encrypt on your Winhost site, you certainly can. We support it. We don’t recommend it – for the reasons we just mentioned – but if you’re up for going through the process every 90 days, you can.
But if you’re more of a set-it-and-forget it type, we offer a full range of SSL certificates, starting at as little as $39 a year. You can register a certificate for two years as well, meaning it’s not something you have to think about every 90 days, or even every year. If you want to secure your site (and don’t want to see your Google ranking drop) you may want to get yourself an SSL certificate soon.