Let's Encrypt Milestone: One Billion Free HTTPS Certificates Issued

Here, there and everywhere, the internet has never been a very safe place. One of the ways to protect users, is to use HTTPS protocol on websites.

HTTPS is considered the standard for web security. All major web browsers are urging web owners and webmasters to use the protocol, and users can always check whether a site they visit uses HTTPS by simply looking at the padlock shown before the URL.

What's more, there is also ways to check whether a site is using the latest encryption standards by checking out its HTTPS certificate.

Let’s Encrypt is a provider of free HTTPS certificates. And since its launch back in 2016, it has been one of the few that made what was once a complex and expensive process of registering and managing TLS certificates, free and easy.

The provider is operated by the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG), with members like Mozilla Foundation, Akamai Technologies, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and the University of Michigan.

In other words, Let's Encrypt has big names behind its back.

Let's Encrypt

In 2019, the company said that it issued 1 million certificates every day. And on February 27, 2020, the company issued its one billionth certificate.

In an announcement on its web page, Let's Encrypt said that:

"We’re going to use this big round number as an opportunity to reflect on what has changed for us, and for the Internet, leading up to this event. In particular, we want to talk about what has happened since the last time we talked about a big round number of certificates - one hundred million."

"One thing that’s different now is that the Web is much more encrypted than it was. In June of 2017 approximately 58% of page loads used HTTPS globally, 64% in the United States. Today 81% of page loads use HTTPS globally, and we’re at 91% in the United States! This is an incredible achievement. That’s a lot more privacy and security for everybody."

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HTTPS

In the announcement, the company also said how it has grown.

In June 2017, Let's Encrypt had 11 full time staff and an annual budget of $2.61 million, serving approximately 46 million websites. In 2020, the numbers grew to 192 million websites, 13 full time staff, and an annual budget of approximately $3.35 million.

HTTPS has been a must for websites, and with the protocol, the web has improved its security in a great way.

"When websites put their users at risk by not using HTTPS, major browsers now show stronger warnings. Many sites have responded by deploying HTTPS," Let's Encrypt said.

While things look good for Let's Encrypt, it doesn't mean that it's failproof.

Back in 2016 for example, the free encryption provider was praised for making it easier for legitimate users to improve security. But at the same time, it's easiness is also making things simple for cybercriminals to hide their online activities.

That year, it was reported that several hackers used Let's Encrypt to mask websites designed for phishing. Malvertisers were said to also have used Let's Encrypt to hide their malicious advertising from network security tools. A couple of years later, a flaw in Let’s Encrypt’s ACME protocol was found which could have allowed attackers to obtain certificates for domains they did not own.

However, the organization has been improving its own security and authentication processes.

"We depend on contributions from our community of users and supporters in order to provide our services," ended Let's Encrypt.