Cybersecurity in the Age of the Machine
A recently discovered security vulnerability in OpenSSL allows a long-deprecated protocol, SSL v2 (Secure Sockets Layer) to be misused in attacks at modern websites. The new attack has been, perhaps fittingly, dubbed DROWN, an acronym for Decrypting RSA with Obsolete and Weakened eNcryption. Cyber security analysts believe it might shut down–or shall we say drown, more than one third of all HTTPS servers. Is yours one of them?
[Updated 2019-03-17] Are you wondering why some JavaScript code from external domains simply won’t execute on your website? The reason could be as simple as an overly restrictive Content Security Policy (CSP for short). This article explains how you can create a Content Security Policy that’s both protective and functional. It will help you to secure your web server from some types of cross-site request forgery (XSRF/CSRF/XFS), clickjacking and other code injection attacks.
In a post titled How to Set Up Letsencrypt, the SSL-Certificate Engine for the Cloud Era of Hyperscale, on AWS EC2, we have introduced you to this free, open, and fully automated Certificate Authority backed by the likes of Facebook (a gold sponsor), and discussed a manual setup for adventurers in How to Use Letsencrypt across Servers in the Manual Configuration Mode with a CSR.
Now is the time to discuss how to extend the validity of a Letsencrypt certificate for up to another 90 days of blissful happiness.
[updated 2018-06-12] As browser makers continue their push for HTTPS and mobile applications are becoming the target of MITM (man-in-the-middle) attacks, cloud developers and administrators are scrambling to find affordable SSL certificates that can live up to the demands of the cloud era. Enter Let’s Encrypt, a new Certificate Authority that is open, fully automated, and free to use, with an almost unprecedented, generous allotment of 100 host names per certificate. Let’s Encrypt delivers on the promise of a worry-free, fully encrypted web 3.0. Cloud Insidr lifts the veil off of Let’s Encrypt’s setup, configuration, its few surprises and hidden gems.
Generating SSL certificates when Letsencrypt (what is Letsencrypt, who is behind it, and how the heck can you get started) is available for your system works in a breeze, but what if you need your certificates for a machine that won’t take Letsencrypt (for whatever reason)? It is still possible: you can either grab Letsencrypt from Git, or, for reasons of practicality… create a certificate signing request (CSR) on your target server, transfer it to your letsencrypt instance, generate the certificates you need, then transfer the generated files back to your target instance and install the certificates in your software.