For a number of years we have been offering FREE “Let’s Encrypt” or Sectigo Powered by cPanel SSL Certificates to all our clients whose server has cPanel installed.  Even if you do not have cPanel installed our technical team can set up your server to automatically issue free Let’s Encrypt SSLs for you quickly and automatically.

Yesterday a client bought a managed Server from us and we were shocked to hear that his current provider, a large, well known web hosting provider (and whose parent company you absolutely will have heard of) were insisting their clients still paid for basic Domain Validated SSL Certificates.  By moving to a managed server from BWF this client is in line to save a lot of money.  This client did not need anything more than the encryption provided by a Let’s Encrypt Certificate.

Who are Let’s Encrypt?
According to the Let’s Encrypt Website – “Let’s Encrypt is a free, automated, and open certificate authority (CA), run for the public’s benefit. It is a service provided by the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG). We give people the digital certificates they need in order to enable HTTPS (SSL/TLS) for websites, for free, in the most user-friendly way we can. We do this because we want to create a more secure and privacy-respecting Web.”

Who funds Let’s Encrypt?
A list of sponsors are on the Let’s Encrypt Website here: https://letsencrypt.org/sponsors/

Why would you need to pay for an SSL Certificate?
Some clients still prefer to buy their Domain Validated SSLs or continue to renew them when they come up for renewal.  We honestly feel that in most cases this is an unnecessary expense.  We do have a number of clients who still purchase Extended Verified SSLs.  This is where you see the Client’s Name in the address bar and is used for extra confirmation that the website belongs to the organisation.  Next time you are visiting your bank’s website or paypal have a look in your address bar and if you see the company name then this is an EV Certificate.  We still recommend these paid certificates for clients running eCommerce websites where trust is important for their potential clients.  It’s important to note that it can take a couple of weeks to get such certificates issued due to the checks that take place.

How can I check if an SSL is installed on my website?
Within 24 hours after purchasing your account with us our automated systems will install an SSL on your website assuming the domain points to the server.  If you need that sooner our support team can sort right away for you.  The SSL Shopper is a good place to check to see if your SSL is installed and working: https://www.sslshopper.com/ssl-checker.html

My website is not loading its pages with https://
Perhaps your website is coded with http (non secure) links.  Perhaps you have simply not set up an .htaccess redirect to redirect http traffic to https.  Our team can help you troubleshoot why your website is not loading securely just pop a support ticket in.  If you have confirmed that there is an SSL (see above for how) and you use WordPress then the plugin called ‘Really Simple SSL’ will do all the hard work for you in most cases.  If you need to check why you cannot see the padlock this handy website will help in helping you track down places in your code where assets are being called over http instead of https: https://www.whynopadlock.com/