What is an SSL? How to get free SSL?

What is SSL and why is it important? SSL is a term that is often encountered when we are working with websites such as hosting and domains. There have been many explanations about SSL but most of the explanations are too technical so that it is difficult for ordinary bloggers to understand. This article explains to you the meaning of SSL in the easiest way to understand and how to get free SSL/TLS.

What is an SSL?

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer which was first proposed by Netscape as a security technology. In 1999, SSL was replaced with TLS (Transport Layer Security) which is considered more secure than SSL. However, today's SSL and TLS technologies are used together (so-called SSL/TLS) as a measure to maintain the security of transactions between two computers connected via the internet.

SSL serves to encrypt data that is transacted over the internet such as credit card data, login data, and so on. With SSL, we don't have to worry if the data flow between computer A and computer B can be hacked by computer C (or perhaps by B himself).

The use of SSL aims to provide convenience in transacting data in cyberspace. Currently, SSL and TLS technologies are used in various types of online transactions even by social media. If a website or blog does not implement SSL and TLS technology, the browser will automatically notify users that the website is not secure.

How do I know if a website implements SSL/TLS?

To find out if a website implements SSL/TLS, we can look at the protocol in the URL. If the URL starts with HTTPS then the website applies SSL. On the other hand, if the URL only starts with HTTP, then the website has not implemented SSL/TLS.

I'm a Blogger user, is my blog safe?

Blogger implements SSL/TLS as you can see in your blog URL. However, you can also disable SSL technology on Blogger by unchecking the HTTPS redirect in Blogger settings. Of course, this is not recommended because disabling SSL technology is the same as making your blog easy for hackers to hack.

What is an SSL Certificate?

An SSL certificate is a digital document that contains the identity of a website that is encrypted in cryptographic form. An SSL certificate contains two pieces of code called a key, a public key and a private key. The public key serves to initiate the encryption process of communication between the user and the website. Meanwhile, the private key functions to secure website files stored on the server including images, videos, document files, and javascript files.

Do all web hosting provide SSL/TLS services?

Most web hosting provides SSL/TLS services but there is a separate fee to be paid by the user. Some free web hosting such as InfinityFree provides free SSL/TLS which must be renewed every 90 days.

Blogger users are much pampered in this regard because we don't have to buy a separate SSL/TLS service; Google already provides it for us. Even though we use a custom domain on Blogger, the SSL/TLS function still works and we don't need to renew the SSL certificate forever.

I found a video on YouTube that graphically explains what is SSL, TLS, HTTP, and HTTPS.

How to get free SSL/TLS?

Several websites provide free SSL/TLS services, including ZeroSSL and Let's Encrypt. To get a free SSL/TLS certificate, you must create an account at ZeroSSL or Let's Encrypt and register the domain you already own.

The free SSL/TLS service provider will then ask you to verify domain ownership in one of three ways: (1) via domain email, (2) via DNS verification, and (3) via HTTP file upload.

To be able to verify via email domain, you must have an email account under your domain (don't use Gmail or Yahoo!). For example, if your domain is mydomain.com, then the email address you can use is, for example, admin@mydomain.com. You can create this email account in Cpanel.

To be able to verify via DNS, you must add a CNAME record under your domain. Of course, you can add this CNAME record at the place where you bought your domain. Or, if you prefer, you can use a free DNS service like Hostry and add the CNAME records provided by the free SSL/TLS provider.

The last way to verify domain ownership is to upload a text file (*.txt) into the website folder via the File Manager in Cpanel. You have to upload this file in the .well-known/pki-validation/ folder and if you can't find this folder in your website folder, then you have to create it yourself. This folder must be in the root position and not in an existing folder.

You only need to do one of the three verification methods above. Choose the method that you think is the easiest and fastest. After that, you can press the verification button available on the website you are using to get free SSL/TLS.

Is that way your SSL is immediately active? Not really. It can take several hours (to days) to activate the SSL/TLS that you implement. As long as SSL/TLS is not active on your website, your domain (with HTTPS) cannot be accessed.