Let's Encrypt
More info
- Creator
- Internet Security Research Group
- Released
- Type
- Certificate authority
- Website
- letsencrypt.org
The free, automated certificate authority that single-handedly made HTTPS the default on the web.
Before 2015 a certificate cost money and required manual work every year, so most small sites ran unencrypted. Let's Encrypt issues free DV certificates entirely automatically over the ACME protocol — certbot solves a challenge, collects the certificate and renews it for you.
Certificates last only 90 days, deliberately: it forces automation and limits the damage from a leaked key. Run by ISRG. The share of encrypted web traffic went from roughly 40% to over 90% in the years after launch.