Shawn Randhawa
In today’s digital landscape, cyber threats are more pervasive than ever and security is paramount. Whether you’re running a small personal blog or managing a large e-commerce platform, having an SSL/TLS certificate is no longer optional — it’s a necessity. We’re going to take a closer look at why SSL/TLS is remains for every website today, how it can benefit any online presence from small business to large brand, and why managing SSL/TLS certificates in an organizational setting is so important.
A Refresher: What is SSL/TLS and How Does It Work?
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and its more modern version, TLS (Transport Layer Security), are cryptographic protocols designed to provide secure communication over a computer network. When you see “https://” in a website’s URL or a padlock icon in your browser, that’s SSL/TLS at work.
In simple terms, SSL/TLS creates an encrypted connection between a user’s browser and the website’s server, ensuring that all data passed between the two remains private and integral. This encryption acts like a secure tunnel, protecting sensitive information from potential eavesdroppers or malicious actors.
Beyond E-commerce: The Diverse Applications of SSL/TLS
While many associate SSL/TLS primarily with securing online payments and form submissions, its applications extend far beyond those use cases. Other common uses for SSL/TLS that we might encounter daily include:
- Securing system logins and sensitive information exchange
- Protecting webmail and applications like Outlook Web Access
- Safeguarding workflow and virtualization applications
- Securing connections between email clients and servers
- Encrypting file transfers over HTTPS and FTP(s)
- Protecting intranet traffic on internal networks and database connections
- Securing network logins and traffic with SSL VPNs
Why SSL is Necessary Even If Your Website Doesn’t Collect Information
Even if your website doesn’t handle sensitive user data or process payments, implementing SSL/TLS offers some pretty important benefits, for example:
Improved Search Engine Ranking: Google and other search engines favour secure websites, giving them a boost in search results
Regulatory Compliance: SSL aids in compliance with various data security and privacy laws.
Boosted Brand Reputation: The visible security indicators (like the padlock icon) build trust with your visitors.
Third-Party Validation: Many SSL certificates come with site seals, providing additional visual cues of your site’s security.
Future-Proofing: As the web becomes increasingly security-focused, having SSL positions your site for developing standards and future expectations.
The State of SSL in 2024: A Web Security Revolution
The journey towards a more secure web began in earnest with the HTTPS Everywhere project in 2010. This initiative, started by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, aimed to encrypt the entire web by making HTTPS the default standard.
Fast forward to 2024, and the landscape has dramatically changed:
- Nearly 300 million SSL/TLS certificates are now active on the internet
- According to recent statistics, approximately 95% of web traffic is now encrypted with HTTPS and
- Major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Safari now mark non-HTTPS sites as “Not Secure,” pushing even more websites towards adoption
- The advent of free SSL certificates through initiatives like Let’s Encrypt has made basic encryption accessible to all
This widespread adoption has significantly improved overall web security, but it also means that SSL certificate management has become a critical task for website owners.
SSL Risks and Vulnerabilities: Why SSL Management Matters
While SSL/TLS provides robust security, it’s not a “set it and forget it” solution. Several risks can compromise your site’s security:
- Accidental Expiry: The most common SSL-related issue, leading to security warnings and potential site outages. Even tech giants aren’t immune—Shopify, Microsoft, and Cisco have all experienced SSL-related downtime.
- Misconfiguration: Improper SSL setup can leave vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit.
- Weak Encryption: Outdated SSL/TLS versions or weak cipher suites can compromise security.
- Certificate Authority Compromises: While rare, issues with the certificate issuer can affect all certificates they’ve issued.
The financial impact of these risks can be severe. According to Pingdom, a single minute of downtime can cost between $5,600 to $9,000 for enterprises.
SSL/TLS Management Tools & Best Practices for Large or Complex Organizations
For organizations managing a large number of certificates across multiple domains and servers, implementing strong SSL/TLS management practices and internal policies is vital to maintaining security, efficiency and reducing human errors.
Advanced feature sets like Webnames’ Enterprise SSL Management Toolkit are invaluable when it comes to managing certificates at scale as they streamline certificate set-up, reissuance, and revocations. Another core practice is maintaining a centralized, up-to-date inventory of the organization’s certificates, including their locations, expiration dates, and associated services. This, combined with secure backups of private keys and clear disaster recovery procedures, can assist organizations in a quicker recovery from any certificate-related emergencies.
Beyond the nitty gritty of managing SSLs, businesses with multiple SSL/TLS certificates benefit greatly from having standardized certificate policies across their infrastructure, covering aspects such as certificate types and validation levels, key lengths, and approved Certificate Authorities. Running regular audits and compliance checks help ensure adherence to these policies and industry standards.
Lastly, implementing continuous SSL/TLS monitoring with proactive alerting systems should be IT requirement at any organization that takes the security of its website and applications seriously. Monitoring helps busy IT teams keep tabs on certificate health, detect misconfigurations, and keep atop of impending expirations and other security issues that can get missed.
Secure Your Digital Presence Today
During the month of October, Webnames’ entire line of SSL/TLS certificates, SSL Monitoring and SSL Management Tools are on sale. Whether you need a basic domain validation or an extended validation certificate, we have options to suit every need and unlike other providers, we offer free configuration and installation support, ensuring your SSL is set up correctly from the start.
Don’t wait for a security incident to highlight the importance of SSL. Webnames’ team of experts are your trusted SSL/TLS partner – ask us your questions, get a recommendation for an SSL/TLS that covers your needs affordably, have us help with the installation and take a proactive step towards a more secure online presence.
As Webnames VP of Business Development, Shawn Randhawa uses his nealy 10-years of domain industry experience to develop new business for Webnames Corporate. He specializes in working with corporations, lawfirms and government, capturing their specific needs to develop custom domain and SSL portfolio management strategies that better optimize, secure, and proactively protect their brands and trademarks online.