Let’s Encrypt – a smarter, safer web

And the Tilt website is secure!

The wider web community has a vision of making the entire web a secure environment. In order to achieve this, a site needs to encrypt the transfer of data using SSL certificates. Currently this is quite a lengthy and costly process to achieve, which puts up barriers to embracing and adopting these protocols for sites that may perhaps not require encryption.

A consortium including influential tech companies set about making a service that removes these barriers and would provide the web with a free, automated and open source certification authority to the encryption of web traffic. This service is provided by the Internet Security Research Group and they have produced Let’s Encrypt, run solely for the public’s benefit.

This is game changing for the industry and a very positive move towards a ‘secure web’. The key principles of Lets Encrypt are:

• Free: Anyone who owns a domain name can use Let’s Encrypt to obtain a trusted certificate at zero cost
• Automatic: Software running on a web server can interact with Let’s Encrypt to painlessly obtain a certificate, securely configure it for use, and automatically take care of renewal
• Secure: Let’s Encrypt will serve as a platform for advancing TLS security best practices, both on the CA side and by helping site operators properly secure their servers
• Transparent: All certificates issued or revoked will be publicly recorded and available for anyone to inspect
• Open: The automatic issuance and renewal protocol will be published as an open standard that others can adopt
• Cooperative: Much like the underlying Internet protocols themselves, Let’s Encrypt is a joint effort to benefit the community, beyond the control of any one organization.

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As a digital agency we are proud to have embraced this new service and you can browse our site safe in the knowledge the the flow of shiny data to and from our site is secured by Let’s Encrypt.