What are the benefits of using conforming certificates?

Posted by zneak on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by zneak
Published on 2011-01-30T06:35:33Z Indexed on 2011/01/30 7:27 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 316

Filed under:

ssl

|

certificate

Recently, my web host started sending my mail client a self-signed root certificate with no field filled (everything says "Unknown") when connecting via SSL. I'm pretty sure this is not a good thing, but since it works, the tech support guy says it's fine.

I'm not a certificate guru, so I'm turning to you people. What purpose do certificates serve? Is it really okay that the certificate has every field set to "Unknown"? I don't check certificates often, but I don't recall ever being sent a root one; what's the difference between a root certificate and, err, the other kind of certificate?

© Server Fault or respective owner

Related posts about ssl

Plesk SSL Certificate (Default cert when SSL enabled, CORRECT cert when SSL is disabled)

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I'm running Plesk 8.6.0: I have an SSL cert installed through Plesk's admin interface. But I have a bit of an issue: When I enabled SSL for the site, and selected my cert, then restart httpd, Plesk defaults to using my self-signed default certificate. Conversely, when I disable SSL support for the… >>> More
apache renew ssl not working [on hold]

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Downloaded a new ssl cert from go daddy and installed the cert on apache2 server put the cert in /etc/ssl/certs/ folder put the gd_bundle.crt in the /etc/ssl/ folder private key is in /etc/ssl/private/private.key I just replaced the original files with the new files, did not replace the private… >>> More
Cant connect to mysql using self signed SSL certificate

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
After creating a self-signed SSL certificate, I have configured my remote mysqld to use them (and ssl is enabled) I ssh into my remote server, and try connecting to its own mysqld using ssl (mysql server is 5.5.25).. ~> mysql -u <user> -p --ssl=1 --ssl-cert=client.cert --ssl-key=client… >>> More
How to log invalid client SSL certificate in SSL

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I have a IIS web site which requires client certificate. I have turned off CRL checking. The client is unable to access the web site - he gets 403.17 (certificate expired) error. I would like to log the certificate he is using, becaue I think he is using the wrong certificate. Is there a way to… >>> More
Mixing SSL and non-SSL content in an Apache2 virtual host

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I have a (hopefully) common scenario for one of my sites that I just can't seem to figure out how to deploy correctly. I have the following site and directories for example.com: These need to require SSL: /var/www/example.com/admin /var/www/example.com/order These need to be non-SSL: /var/www/example… >>> More

Related posts about certificate

IIS SSL Certificate Renewal Pain

as seen on West-Wind - Search for 'West-Wind'
I’m in the middle of my annual certificate renewal for the West Wind site and I can honestly say that I hate IIS’s certificate system. When it works it’s fine, but when it doesn’t man can it be a pain. Because I deal with public certificates on my site merely once a year, and you have to perform… >>> More
apache Client Certificate Authentication errors: Certificate Verification: Error (18): self signed certificate

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
So I have been following instructions on setting up Client Certificate Authentication in Apache2 w/ mod_ssl. This is solely for the purpose of testing an application against CAA, not for any sort of production use. So far I've followed http://www.impetus.us/~rjmooney/projects/misc/clientcertauth… >>> More
Nginx and client certificates from hierarchical OpenSSL-based certification authorities

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I'm trying to set up root certification authority, subordinate certification authority and to generate the client certificates signed by any of this CA that nginx 0.7.67 on Debian Squeeze will accept. My problem is that root CA signed client certificate works fine while subordinate CA signed one results… >>> More
How to find, whether the certificate is a private certificate or a public certificate

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have to write a MSI, where in i have to give only the public certicate. In case the user gives a private certificate, it should pop up an error message. >>> More
Developer certificate vs purchased certificate for WCF

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I understsand that if I want to use authentication in WCF then I need to install a certificate on my server which WCF will use to encrypt data passing between my server and client. For development purposes I believe I can use the makecert.exe util. to make a development certificate. What is the… >>> More