[lug] Cheap SSL Certificate pointers from Slashdot

[Neal McBurnett]

Slashdot just did a story on Cheap SSL Certs.  Lots of ranting as
usual, but I pulled out some of the more interesting things.

Cheers,

Neal McBurnett                 http://bcn.boulder.co.us/~neal/
GPG/PGP signed and/or sealed mail encouraged.  Keyid: 2C9EBA60


http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/10/02/000241

 Java applets: Sun only [trusts?] Verisign or Thawte root certificates

 Free client certs: http://www.cacert.com
  "So far only the client certificates are useable, I'm still working
  through doing policies for server certificates to keep ongoing costs
  to a minimum, if any cost at all, yet still prove identities of
  those requesting them, [that they] have a right to the certificate..."

 You might need a certificate signed by a well known CA for your
 connections from the internet, but for all your backend server you
 can create your own CA:  http://tinyca.sm-zone.net/ 

 You can purchase a ridiculously cheap ($50) 128bit SSL cert, trusted
 by browsers from http://www.geotrust.com

 InstantSSL. $49/year
   Almost instant (like 10 minute) issuance.
   Trusted by 99% or so of in-use browsers (IE>=5.0, Netscape>=4.x,
   AOL>=5, Opera>=5).

 quickssl $49 - http://www.rackshack.net/quickssldetails.asp 
  Rackshack is not the CA, but just a reseller of the certs. They have
  such a high volume, they get a discount. The certs they sell are
  actually signed by Equifax, and are distributed by GeoTrust.

 DirectNIC.com does SSL certs for $118/yr

 'Wildcard' certificates cost an absurd amount of money, usually $500 or more.