With cybercriminals constantly looking for ways to hack sites and get access to information that is stored on websites, the need for security and protection of data is growing. Secure with Wildcard SSL certificates are favored by a lot of businesses that want to secure primary and subdomains by one certificate. Scalability and cost are the principal benefits of using Wildcard SSL. However, the benefits that promise ease and convenience are a risk of breaking fundamental principles of security, such as security, confidentiality and reputational damage.
Do you want to learn more about the SSL Certificates issued by WC? Read on.
What exactly are Wildcard SSL Certificates?
A wildcard certificate can be described as a digital certificate that protects a domain and all its subdomains. Prior to the domain’s title, an asterisk and a period are utilized to denote wildcards. Wildcards are commonly employed to signify wildcards in Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates to expand SSL protection to subdomains.
A standard SSL certificate is valid only for one domain, like www.example.com. Wildcard certificates for *.example.com secures mail.example.com, vpn.example.com, payment.example.com and many other domains. Nowadays, any company with multiple subdomains must have an authorization from a wildcard SSL certificates to safeguard the security of its website from criminals and hackers. This is where buying as well as installing the wildcard SSL certificate for the subdomain comes into play.
Important Wildcard SSL Benefits
1. Unlimitable Subdomain security – as stated, Wildcard SSL safeguards an infinite number of subdomains – as many as your business owns. If you want to add more subdomains to the Wildcard’s terms you don’t have to renew it. All new subdomains are covered automatically also.
2. SSL certificate that can save the company money. A company with a large number of subdomains will require an N SSL certificates, and this result in significant costs for website security. With a wildcard SSL certificate that is used for subdomains a business is not worried about the price. Businesses can get an unlimited number of sub-domains at the same cost as one Wildcard SSL certificate.
This is particularly beneficial particularly for smaller and mid-sized companies (SMBs) because of their lack of resources. Utilizing a cheap wildcard SSL certificate for their website with multiple sub-domains, they will be able to secure data and privacy, while still observing the budgetary limits.
3. SEO or Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Do you have the knowledge that Google gives websites with SSL enabled an increase in search rankings? It’s true, as per the announcement made by the company in 2014 the SSL was an indicator of ranking, and as the community of browsers is working to ensure that encryption is ubiquitous the strength of the signal has grown.
Google rates SSL-secured websites as more secure. Websites can also be marked as unsecure by Google even if there isn’t SSL encryption is present.
4. The Trust of Users: If contrasted with a website that is unsecure one that is secured has a higher amount of users’ trust and traffic. Your customers will have faith on your website because it has the best encryption. The certificate you choose, WildCard SSL provides domain or business validation. It also guarantees credibility of your website by showing that a certified certifier (CA) has endorsed your website, ensuring that it’s secure for transactions online and buying.
5. Compatibility: Wildcard certs for Subdomains work with the majority of browsers and servers (desktop as well as mobile). A lot of Wildcard companies offer over 99 per cent compatibility with browsers and ensure that users can enjoy a smooth browsing experience, without having to worry about the SSL warning message.
6. Simple Certificate Management: Instead of a lengthy and laborious process to manage multiple SSL certificates, a single Wildcard certificate can be installed by a single click to several sub-domains. Expiry, renewal, reissues, etc. should not be tracked independently for each certificate. Therefore, managing certificates is much easier for companies since they don’t have to hurry after storing a number of certificates.
7. Instant Issuance: When the CA examines the documentation of your company as well as the domain and business ownership, you will be able to obtain an Wildcard SSL certificate within just two days. The sub-domains of the domain are joined to the certificate. They are then are protected. Therefore, there is no waiting period for ensure the security of websites using WC SSL Certificates.
Wildcard SSL Certificates Makes Encryption Cheaper, But Less Secure
Similar to other technologies SSL certificates with Wildcards come with their own limitations. For example the extended confirmation (EV) level of assurance is not available for certificates issued by WC SSL. Secure third and second-level subdomains is a challenge. Other Wildcard certificate risks that are greater than its advantages include:
The main reason to stay clear of SSL certificates for WC is that they’re vulnerable to attacks of phishing. If they are not properly monitored and controlled the certificate could be misused by hackers in order to gain access to the trust.
In the case of hackers infiltrate your domain, secured through an Wildcard certificate, they may gain the right to create unlimited domains. The most dangerous scenario is that subdomains appear to be legitimate because they’re protected by the protection of your Wildcard certificate. In the event of a hacker, they can utilize subdomains that are not legitimate to conduct phishing attacks.
If you have multiple agents managing the different subdomains of your website, Wildcard certificates necessitate sharing your private key. Sharing the same private key on multiple systems increases the possibility of compromise and unauthorised access.
Certain older mobile phones do not accept that (*) wildcard symbol. If you have a mobile device that isn’t compatible with it you’ll need one certificate.
Avoid Wildcard SSL Certificate Risks
In fact wildcard SSL certificates are a great choice as they help save costs and are simpler to manage. However, it is essential to use them with care and in a controlled manner. If you are the victim of an attack to secure your network, in order to reduce the impact it is recommended to make use of a unique certificate that only applies to the domains that it is associated with.
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