Let’s Encrypt - A New Certificate Authority

  • Wed, 02/24/2016 - 15:39 by aatif

Let’s Encrypt - A New Certificate Authority


Before going to understand Let's Encrypt it is better to take a little overview of what is HTTPS. HTTPS is a protocol that is used for secure communication over a computer network which is widely used on the Internet. HTTPS is the secure version of Hypertext Transfer Protocol. HTTPS communications between the browser and the website are encrypted. The main purpose of HTTPS is authentication of the visited website and protection of the privacy and integrity of the exchanged data, especially in online banking and online shopping order forms.
Let's Encrypt

Let's Encrypt is a free, automated, and open certificate authority (CA). It is provided as a service by the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG). It is written in the Python language. By using the Sudo command you install the certificates on your server. It is compatible with Apache and Nginx. Therefore, you need to just install it on your server if you are using Apache or Nginx.

The basic purpose of Let's Encrypt is to make encrypted connections to World Wide Web servers ubiquitous. It is a very easy-to-use certificate, it reduces the complexity of setting up and maintaining TLS encryption. By using just two commands you can set up HTTPS encryption in 20 to 30 seconds. The long-term goal of this project is to encrypt the entirety of the web. Some of the main sponsors of this project are OVH, Mozilla Foundation, Akamai, Cisco Systems, Automattic, and IdenTrust.

Let's Encrypt can be simplified through automation by using a protocol name is Automated Certificate Management Environment (ACME). It automates the process of obtaining, renewing, and revoking certificates which included in the proof of control for a website. You can enable HTTPS security for any website just with one click.

Install Let's Encrypt

If your server has already packaged of let's encrypt, you can easily install it by using the Let's encrypt command. If you don't have a package of Let's encrypt you can get it from the Git hub and install it as given below.

$ git clone https://github.com/letsencrypt/letsencrypt
$ cd letsencrypt
$ ./letsencrypt-auto --help

Lets see the comprehensive presentation of Let's Encrypt in the below video.