With cybercriminals constantly looking for ways to penetrate sites and get access to information that is stored on websites, the need for security and protection of data is only increasing. The Wildcard SSL certificates are highly sought-after by a lot of businesses that want to protect both primary and subdomains using one certificate. Scalability and cost are the principal benefits of using Wildcard SSL. However, the benefits that promised ease and ease could be in violation of the fundamentals of security, such as security, confidentiality and reputational damage.
Are you interested in learning more about the SSL Certificates issued by WC? Read on.
What exactly are Wildcard SSL Certificates?
A wildcard certificate can be described as a digital certificate that protects a domain and all its subdomains. Before the domain’s initials, an asterisk and a space are used to signify wildcards. Wildcards are commonly employed to signify wildcards in Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates to expand SSL protection to subdomains.
A standard SSL certificate is valid only for one domain, like www.example.com. Wildcard certificates for *.example.com is secured by mail.example.com, vpn.example.com, payment.example.com as well as other domains. Nowadays, any company with multiple subdomains must have an authorization from a cheap wildcard SSL certificate to safeguard its security from fraudsters and hackers. This is the reason why purchasing as well as installing the wildcard SSL certificate for the subdomain is essential.
Important Wildcard SSL Benefits
1. Unlimitable Subdomain Protection – As stated, Wildcard SSL safeguards an unlimited number of subdomains, as many as your business owns. If you decide to add additional subdomains to the Wildcard’s terms you don’t have to renew it. New subdomains will be covered automatically too.
2. SSL certificate that helps save the company money. A company with a large number of subdomains will require an N SSL Certificates. This result in substantial costs for security of websites. But, with a Wildcard SSL certificate that is used for subdomains a business is not worried about the cost. Businesses can get an unlimited number of sub-domains at the same amount as one Wildcard SSL certificate.
This is especially helpful especially for medium and small-sized enterprises (SMBs) due to their small resources. With the use of Wildcard SSL certificatesfor their website with multiple sub-domains, they will be able to guarantee strong data security and privacy while preserving the budgetary limits.
3. SEO or Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Did you have the knowledge that Google offers SSL-enabled websites to boost their search rankings? It’s true, as per the company’s announcement in 2014 that the SSL was a ranking signal and as the web browser community strives to make encryption ubiquitous and the power of SSL has grown.
Google rates SSL-secured websites as more secure. Websites can also be marked as unsecure by Google in the event that there is no SSL encryption is in place.
4. Trust of the Users: When you compare a secure website to one that is not one that is secured has a higher amount of users’ trust and traffic. Your customers will have faith on your site since it has the best encryption. Based on the certificate you choose, WildCard SSL provides domain or business validation. It also assures credibility for your website by showing that a certified certifier (CA) has endorsed your website, ensuring that it’s secure for transactions online and buying.
5. Compatibility: Wildcard certs for Subdomains work with all browsers and servers (desktop as well as mobile). A lot of Wildcard service providers provide greater than 99 percent compatibility with browsers and ensure that users will enjoy a comfortable browsing experience, and not be confronted with the SSL warning problem.
6. Easy Certificate Management: In lieu of a tedious and lengthy process to manage multiple SSL certificates, a single Wildcard certificate can be installed in a single click and can be used for several sub-domains. Expiry, renewal, reissues, etc. do not require follow-up independently for each certificate. Therefore, managing certificates is much easier for companies since they don’t have to hurry after storing a number of certificates.
7. Instant Issuance: Once the CA examines the documentation of your company including the domain name, business, and ownership, you will be able to obtain an Wildcard SSL certificate within just two days. Additionally, sub-domains within the domain are joined to the certificate. They are then secured. Therefore, there is no waiting period for secure websites using WC SSL Certificates.
Wildcard SSL Certificates Makes Encryption Cheaper, But Less Secure
Similar to other technologies SSL certificates with Wildcards come with some limitations. For example Extended confirmation (EV) level of assurance is not accessible to certificates issued by WC SSL. The security of third- and second-level subdomains is difficult. Other Wildcard certificate risks that outweigh its benefits are:
The primary reason not to use SSL certificates from WC is that they’re vulnerable to attacks of phishing. In the absence of proper monitoring and control the certificate could be used by hackers to gain access to the trust.
In the case of an attacker hacks into your domain, which is protected through an Wildcard certificate, they could gain the right to create unlimited domains. The most dangerous scenario is that subdomains appear to be legitimate because they’re protected by the protection of your Wildcard certificate. This means that hackers could use subdomains that are not legitimate to conduct phishing attacks.
If you have multiple agents who manage your subdomains, Wildcard certificates necessitate sharing your private key. Sharing the same private key on multiple systems increases the possibility of hacking and access unauthorized.
Certain older mobile phones do not recognise that (*) wildcard symbol. In the case of mobiles that aren’t compatible you must obtain one certificate.
Avoid Wildcard SSL Certificate Risks
In fact the wildcard SSL certificates can be a good choice as they help save costs and are simpler to manage. However, it is essential to use these certificates with care and be aware. If you experience an attack to secure your network, in order to minimize the damage it is recommended to make use of a unique certificate that only applies to the domains that it is associated with.
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