The World’s Trusted and Only Free HTTPS (SSL) Certificate Authority: StartSSL
Self-issued SSL certificates, while capable of encrypting data transmission, are not trusted by browsers and will trigger the following warning:
2. StartSSL Free SSL Certificate Trusted by Browsers:
Like VeriSign, StartSSL (URL: http://www.startssl.com, company name: StartCom) is also a Certificate Authority. Its root certificate has long been supported by browsers with open-source backgrounds (Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari, etc.).
In September of this year, StartSSL surprisingly won over Microsoft: through an update patch, Microsoft updated its vendor list for the Windows Root Certificate Program and included StartCom for the first time. This marked the first time Microsoft added a vendor offering free digital authentication technology to its root certificate list. Now, in Windows 7, or Windows Vista/Windows XP with the update patch installed, the system fully trusts digital certificates authenticated by free CA providers like StartCom, enabling StartSSL to gain support in the IE browser as well.
After registering as a StartSSL (http://www.startssl.com) user and passing email verification, you can apply for a free, trusted SSL certificate. The process is somewhat complex, so I won’t detail every step. The main steps of the application wizard are as follows:
3. Use Case:
Example of an HTTPS (SSL) website using a StartSSL free SSL certificate:
https://sms.api.bz
4. A Little Side Story:
Although StartSSL offers free SSL certificates, their service attitude is excellent. Previously, StartSSL did not support domain names ending in .bz. Since I had an api.bz domain that needed an SSL certificate, I sent an email to the StartSSL administrator requesting the addition of .bz domain support. During the process, there were some rather troublesome issues due to the .bz domain registry’s restrictions on whois queries. Ultimately, StartSSL modified their program and added support for .bz domains.