Free SSL Certificates
We will automatically install a completely free SSL for your site when you go live. The SSL will automatically renew itself, so you no longer have to worry about maintaining your certificates yearly.
Please contact us at coopwebbuilder@nreca.coop for more information.
How to Get an SSL Certificate for your Website
Please read the FAQ to the right and contact us with the information needed to generate a CSR code.
Recent Browser Changes & Warnings
In recent years there has been a concerted effort by the Internet’s biggest players (Google & Mozilla, specifically) to move the internet to an encryption-everywhere model. Browser releases have been incrementally increasing security notifications with each new release.
The release of Firefox 52 on March 7 of 2017, introduced a new security feature - in-context notices for log-in fields on unencrypted pages. This is intended to call attention to the dangers of providing credentials on unsecured pages. In July of 2018, Chrome 68 started to label any HTTP pages or resources as "Not Secure".
Many of our members have noticed this change and have had questions about what it means for them. In order to help our members to understand and offer the best security for their web sites, we've compiled an informative FAQ.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Without a SSL certificate, all information entered on your site is transmitted in plaintext, which is exceptionally easy for an attacker to intercept. This includes site log-in fields, bill pay log-in fields and application forms. Without a SSL certificate, any sensitive information provided by your members is easy to steal.
Site security is provided by having a SSL certificate installed on your site.
Note: We can generate a certificate for you when you go live with your new website.
Please contact us at coopwebbuilder@nreca.coop when you are ready to go-live to begin the go-live process.
SSL certificates are offered by many reputable vendors, and usually cost between $50 and $300 per year, depending on the exact type of certificate being purchased.
The good news is with all of our 3.0 sites we offer SSL certificates at no cost to our co-ops. Just send us an email and we will get the process started for you.
In most cases, a single-domain or wildcard certificate will suffice. If you need to cover more than one domain, then you'll need a type of certificate called a SAN or UCC. These are sometimes just called multi-domain certificates.
SSL vendors usually offer varying levels of verification and authentication, as well as other value-adds, like a warranty or price break for longer term certificate purchases. The protection offered by each certificate level is the same, but the extras (such as a "Green Bar") can be beneficial to your business reputation, or offer additional liability coverage in the event of a breach.
SSL Shopper offers an excellent overview of SSL features in their article here: https://www.sslshopper.com/ssl-certificate-features.html
In most cases, yes. Purchase of a new SSL certificate isn't usually necessary. Instead, your existing SSL certificate just needs to be re-generated for use on our servers. This also requires a CSR and follows the same process for installing a new SSL certificate.
Due to the security implications of transmitting a private key over the Internet, we cannot accept an existing private key. A compromised private key not only opens a vulnerability on your web site, but on our server as whole, putting all of our Coop WebBuilder web sites at risk. If you already have a SSL certificate, please see the question above (What if we already have a SSL certificate?) for information on using your existing SSL certificate on our servers.