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Let's Encrypt Issued A Billion Free SSL Certificates in the Last 4 Years

Let's Encrypt Issued A Billion Free SSL Certificates in the Last 4 Years

Feb 28, 2020
Let's Encrypt, a free, automated, and open certificate signing authority (CA) from the nonprofit Internet Security Research Group (ISRG), has said it's issued a billion certificates since its launch in 2015. The CA issued its first certificate in September 2015, before eventually reaching 100 million in June 2017. Since late last year, Let's Encrypt has issued at least 1.2 million certificates each day. The development comes as over 80 percent of the web page loads have begun using HTTPS worldwide , and 91 percent in the US alone. HTTPS, the default means of secure communication on the internet, comes with three benefits: authentication, integrity, and encryption. It allows HTTP requests to be transmitted over a secure encrypted channel, thus protecting users from an array of malicious activities, including site forgery and content manipulation. "Since 2017, browsers have started requiring HTTPS for more features, and they've greatly improved the way
Simplifying SSH keys and SSL Certs Management across the Enterprise using Key Manager Plus

Simplifying SSH keys and SSL Certs Management across the Enterprise using Key Manager Plus

Nov 02, 2016
With rapidly growing web-based services and widely expanding locations, organizations are using more and more SSL certificates as well as SSH keys than ever. From authentication, confidentiality, and integrity to preventing the organization from industrial espionage, SSL certificates play an important role. Managing SSL certificates across networks to ensure protection and prevent unanticipated failures is critical, and it also becomes complicated with multiple locations, divisions as well as the fastest growing use of external cloud-based services. This not only complicates the process of managing individual SSL certificate and SSH key for an administrator but also costs organizations heavily. A key solution for this issue is to use an advanced and efficient SSL certificate and SSH Key management system. An effective solution enables an organization to know what kinds of certificates and keys it has, simplifies certificate discovery and monitor across multiple vendors, an
How to Find and Fix Risky Sharing in Google Drive

How to Find and Fix Risky Sharing in Google Drive

Mar 06, 2024Data Security / Cloud Security
Every Google Workspace administrator knows how quickly Google Drive becomes a messy sprawl of loosely shared confidential information. This isn't anyone's fault; it's inevitable as your productivity suite is purposefully designed to enable real-time collaboration – both internally and externally.  For Security & Risk Management teams, the untenable risk of any Google Drive footprint lies in the toxic combinations of sensitive data, excessive permissions, and improper sharing. However, it can be challenging to differentiate between typical business practices and potential risks without fully understanding the context and intent.  Material Security, a company renowned for its innovative method of protecting sensitive data within employee mailboxes, has recently launched  Data Protection for Google Drive  to safeguard the sprawl of confidential information scattered throughout Google Drive with a powerful discovery and remediation toolkit. How Material Security helps organ
Google Chrome to Label Sensitive HTTP Pages as "Not Secure"

Google Chrome to Label Sensitive HTTP Pages as "Not Secure"

Sep 09, 2016
Although over three months remaining, Google has planned a New Year gift for the Internet users, who're concerned about their privacy and security. Starting in January of 2017, the world's most popular web browser Chrome will begin labeling HTTP sites that transmit passwords or ask for credit card details as " Not Secure " — the first step in Google's plan to discourage the use of sites that don't use encryption. The change will take effect with the release of Chrome 56 in January 2017 and affect certain unsecured web pages that feature entry fields for sensitive data, like passwords and payment card numbers, according to a post today on the Google Security Blog . Unencrypted HTTP has been considered dangerous particularly for login pages and payment forms, as it could allow a man-in-the-middle attacker to intercept passwords, login session, cookies and credit card data as they travel across the network. In the following release, Chrome will flag
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More than 1 Million Websites Install Free SSL Certificate (and Counting...)

More than 1 Million Websites Install Free SSL Certificate (and Counting...)

Mar 09, 2016
Let's Encrypt has achieved another big milestone by issuing 1 million free Transport Layer Security (TLS) SSL Certificates to webmasters who wish to secure the communications between their users and domains. Let's Encrypt   – operated by the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG) – is an absolutely free, and open source certificate authority recognized by all major browsers , including Google's Chrome, Mozilla's Firefox and Microsoft's Internet Explorer. It is just three months and five days since Let's Encrypt launched a beta version of the service, and the group has crossed 1 Million certificates in use across the Web, Let's Encrypt said in a blog post on Tuesday. Let's Encrypt allows anyone to obtain Free SSL/TLS (Secure Socket Layer/Transport Layer Security) certificates for their web servers. Backed by companies including EFF, Akamai and Mozilla, the Let's Encrypt project started offering Free HTTPS certs to everyone fro
Hackers Install Free SSL Certs from Let's Encrypt On Malicious Web Sites

Hackers Install Free SSL Certs from Let's Encrypt On Malicious Web Sites

Jan 07, 2016
Who else didn't see this coming? It was so obvious as I stressed earlier that the  Let's Encrypt free HTTPS certificates would not just help legitimate website operators to encrypt its users' traffic, but also help criminals to bother innocent users with malware through secure sites. Let's Encrypt allows anyone to obtain free SSL/TLS ( Secure Socket Layer/Transport Layer Security ) certificates for their web servers that encrypt all the Internet traffic passed between a server and users. Let's Encrypt is recognized by all major browsers, including Google's Chrome, Mozilla's Firefox and Microsoft's Internet Explorer. The organization started offering Free HTTPS certs to everyone from last month, and it is very easy for anyone to set up an HTTPS website in a few simple steps ( How to Install Free SSL Cert ). However, the most bothersome part is that Let's Encrypt free SSL certs are not only used by website owners to secure its
How to Install Let's Encrypt Free SSL Certificate On Your Website

How to Install Let's Encrypt Free SSL Certificate On Your Website

Dec 04, 2015
Another Big Milestone – Let's Encrypt is now offering Free HTTPS certificates to everyone. Let's Encrypt has opened to the public, allowing anyone to obtain Free SSL/TLS ( Secure Socket Layer/Transport Layer Security ) certificates for their web servers and to set up HTTPS websites in a few simple steps ( mentioned below ). Let's Encrypt – an initiative run by the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG) – is a new, free, and open certificate authority recognized by all major browsers , including Google's Chrome, Mozilla's Firefox and Microsoft's Internet Explorer. The Free SSL Certification Authority is now in public beta after testing a trial among a select group of volunteers. Why Let's Encrypt? Let's Encrypt promised to offer a certificate authority (CA) which is: Free – no charge for HTTPS certs. Automatic – the installation, configuration as well as the renewal of the certificates do not require any administrator a
Let's Encrypt Project issues its First Free SSL/TLS Certificate

Let's Encrypt Project issues its First Free SSL/TLS Certificate

Sep 16, 2015
Last fall the non-profit foundation EFF ( Electronic Frontier Foundation ) launched an initiative called Let's Encrypt that aimed at providing Free Digital Cryptographic Certificates (TLS) to any website that needs them. Today, Let's Encrypt – a free automated Open-source Certificate Authority (CA) – has signed its first certificate, hitting what it calls a major milestone to encrypt all of the Web. Let's Encrypt enables any Internet site to protect its users with free SSL/TLS (Secure Socket Layer/Transport Layer Security) certificates that encrypt all the data passed between a website and users. Not just free, but the initiative also makes HTTPS implementation easier for any website or online shopping site owner in order to ensure the security of their customers' data. "Forget about hours (or sometimes days) of muddling through complicated programming to set up encryption on a website, or yearly fees," EFF explains . "Let's Encr
SSL Encryption — Securing Internet of Things (IoT)

SSL Encryption — Securing Internet of Things (IoT)

Aug 06, 2015
Internet of Things (IoT) with the purpose of providing convenience to the users enabled every object in the universe to be as smart as a whip. By assigning IP address to all sorts of devices, ranging from household appliances, machines, medical devices and sensors to other day-to-day objects, and putting them all together on a standardised network is a common Internet of Things (IoT) practice. Is Internet of Things Secure? In my previous articles, I gave you a glance of the most vulnerable smart cities that are increasingly adopting devices connected to the Internet in an attempt to add convenience and ease to daily activities. By 2020, there will be more than 45 Billion Internet-connected devices that will transform the way we live and work. The bottom line: As the number of IoT enabled systems increases, the complexity of handling them increases; leading to an introduction of new risk and vulnerabilities associated with them. Security of Internet of
13-year-old SSL/TLS Weakness Exposing Sensitive Data in Plain Text

13-year-old SSL/TLS Weakness Exposing Sensitive Data in Plain Text

Mar 28, 2015
The most popular and widely used encryption scheme has been found to be weaker with the disclosure of a new attack that could allow attackers to steal credit card numbers, passwords and other sensitive data from transmissions protected by SSL ( secure sockets layer ) and TLS ( transport layer security ) protocols. The attack leverages a 13-year-old weakness in the less secure Rivest Cipher 4 (RC4) encryption algorithm , which is the most commonly used stream cipher for protecting 30 percent of TLS traffic on the Internet today. BAR-MITZVAH ATTACK The attack, dubbed " Bar-Mitzvah ", can be carried out even without conducting man-in-the-middle attack (MITM) between the client and the server, as in the case of most of the previous SSL hacks. Itsik Mantin, a researcher from security firm Imperva, presented his findings in a research titled, " Attacking SSL when using RC4 " at the Black Hat Asia security conference Thursday in Singapore. Bar Mitzv
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