Examining the Pros and Cons of Using a Wildcard Certificate

As hackers seek ever-new entry points into online systems, the importance of keeping sensitive information safe and private only grows. Many companies who want to protect their root domain and any subdomains it hosts opt for wildcard SSL certificates. Wildcard certificate primary advantages are its low price and scalability. The security principles of integrity, secrecy, and non-reputation could be breached, notwithstanding the benefits of convenience and simplicity.

The purpose of wildcard SSL certificates

Wildcard certificates are digital certificates that can be used for all domain subdomains. SSL certificates commonly include wildcards so that encryption can be extended to subdomains.

A standard SSL certificate, such as www.example.com, can only be used on a single domain. Protecting mail.example.com and additional subdomains is easy with a wildcard certificate covering “.example.com”. 

Nowadays, wildcard SSL certificates are a must for protecting any organization with multiple subdomains from hackers and fraudsters. In this case, a wildcard SSL certificate for the subdomain should be purchased and set up.

Valuable Features of Wildcard SSL Certificates

Unlimited Secure Subdomains

Wildcard SSL protects an unlimited number of subdomains, as many as your firm has. Adding extra subdomains within the Wildcard’s term doesn’t necessitate renewing it; the new ones will be covered automatically.

Cost-Effective SSL Certificate

When a company has subdomains of length N, it needs to deploy SSL Certificates for each subdomain, which might add up to a hefty sum. Buy Wildcard SSL Certificate to protect an unlimited number of sub-domains for an organization and it’s sensitive information across all of their website’s sub-domains.

SEO:

The company announced SSL’s inclusion as a ranking signal in 2014, and the signal’s strength has increased since then as the browser community has worked to do standard encryption practices.

Google gives preferential treatment to websites that use SSL encryption. If SSL encryption is not implemented, Google may also designate a website as insecure.

Users’ Confidence

 A protected website will have more visitors and users’ Confidence than an unsecured website. As a result of the site’s top-tier encryption, users will feel safe making financial transactions on your platform. Having a genuine certificate authority (CA) seal of approval on your website shows customers and clients that they may shop and bank online with peace of mind.

 Compatibility:

 Most servers and browsers are compatible with Wildcard for Subdomains. To guarantee that their customers have a positive browsing experience free from the SSL warning issue, many Wildcard providers offer compatibility with more than 99.99 percent of browsers.

 Convenient Certificate Administration:

 Managing multiple SSL certificates is a pain, but installing a Wildcard certificate that covers several sub-domains takes just a few clicks. Several certifications can share a standard expiration, renewal, reissue, and other maintenance dates. Companies can take their time with certificate management instead of rushing through it.

Beware the Dangers of Wildcard SSL Certificates

Using wildcard SSL certificates is a good idea because they save costs and simplify administration. The key is to approach them with strategy and awareness. An individual certificate that is only good for specific domains can help mitigate the damage done by a security breach.

Wildcard SSL certificates are unnecessary now that services like Entrust provide numerous alternatives for managing SSL certificates and their periodic renewals automatically.