If HTTPS is the outcome you see, SSL/TLS is the actual mechanism making it happen underneath: HTTPS = HTTP + SSL/TLS encryption.
SSL was the original protocol from the 1990s, with known weaknesses, eventually replaced by TLS. Every modern "SSL certificate" today actually uses TLS encryption — the old name just stuck.
Let's Encrypt, a free certificate authority launched in 2016, is a major reason HTTPS became the default for nearly the entire web within just a few years.
Without identity verification, encryption alone wouldn't be enough — you could have a perfectly encrypted connection to an impostor site.
A website owner requests a certificate from a Certificate Authority, who verifies domain control, then issues a trusted certificate. Free options like Let's Encrypt made this essentially frictionless.
Every NOXEL360 product runs on automatically-renewed TLS certificates — encrypted and trusted, by default.
Certificates aren't permanent; they expire (often every 90 days for free options) and must be renewed. A lapsed certificate triggers alarming browser warnings, sometimes blocking access entirely.
SSL has been technically obsolete for years; modern systems use TLS exclusively, though the term "SSL" is still commonly used.
Yes, certificates expire (often every 90 days for free options). Most hosting handles renewal automatically.
Browsers show a security warning and may block access entirely until it's renewed — a serious, visible trust problem.
An organization trusted by browsers to verify domain ownership and issue SSL/TLS certificates, like Let's Encrypt or DigiCert.
Yes — Let's Encrypt provides free, automated certificates used by the vast majority of modern websites today.
The process where a browser and server agree on encryption methods and verify identity before any data is exchanged securely.
Yes, each domain typically needs its own certificate, though some certificates can cover multiple subdomains at once.
See automatically-renewed TLS certificates in action.
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