What is SSL/TLS ?

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and its successor TLS (Transport Layer Security) are cryptographic protocols designed to provide secure communication over a network, typically the internet. They establish an encrypted connection between a client (such as a web browser) and a server (such as a website) to ensure that data exchanged between them remains confidential and tamper-proof.

The SSL/TLS protocol operates at the transport layer of the TCP/IP protocol suite and is used to secure various types of network communications, including web browsing, email transmission, instant messaging, virtual private networks (VPNs), and more.

When a client and a server initiate an SSL/TLS connection, they engage in a handshake process to establish the parameters of the secure connection. This handshake involves the following steps:

1. Client Hello: The client sends a message to the server, indicating its supported SSL/TLS versions, encryption algorithms, and other parameters.
2. Server Hello: The server responds to the client’s message, selecting the strongest encryption and authentication algorithm both parties support. It also provides its digital certificate, which contains the server’s public key.
3. Certificate Validation: The client verifies the authenticity of the server’s digital certificate by checking its validity, ensuring it is signed by a trusted certificate authority (CA), and verifying that the server’s domain name matches the one specified in the certificate.
4. Key Exchange: The client generates a random symmetric encryption key and encrypts it with the server’s public key obtained from the certificate. The server decrypts the key using its private key.
5. Session Key: Both the client and server derive a session key from the exchanged symmetric encryption key. This session key is used for encrypting and decrypting the data transmitted during the SSL/TLS session.
6. Secure Connection: Once the handshake is complete, the client and server begin exchanging encrypted data using the session key. The data is encrypted before transmission and decrypted upon receipt, ensuring confidentiality and integrity.

The SSL/TLS protocol provides three primary security features:

1. Encryption: SSL/TLS ensures that data transmitted between the client and server is encrypted, preventing unauthorized entities from intercepting and reading the information.
2. Authentication: SSL/TLS uses digital certificates to authenticate the identity of the server, ensuring that the client is connecting to the intended and trusted server.
3. Integrity: SSL/TLS employs cryptographic algorithms to verify that the data exchanged between the client and server remains unaltered during transmission, protecting against tampering or modification.

Overall, SSL/TLS is crucial in establishing secure communication channels over the internet, safeguarding sensitive data and protecting users’ privacy.

Why does the browser show a risk notice when an SSL certificate expires?

When a website’s SSL certificate expires, it means that the certificate is no longer valid according to its specified expiration date. The browser shows a risk notice or warning to inform users about this expired certificate because it indicates a potential security risk. Here are a few reasons why an expired SSL certificate is considered risky:

1. Loss of Encryption: SSL certificates are used to establish encrypted connections between a browser and a website. When the certificate expires, the encryption provided by the certificate becomes invalid. This means that any data transmitted between the browser and the website may be vulnerable to interception and eavesdropping by malicious actors.
2. Identity Verification: SSL certificates also serve the purpose of verifying the identity of the website. When a certificate expires, it raises doubts about the legitimacy and authenticity of the website. There is a possibility that the website may have changed ownership or been compromised, and a valid certificate would provide assurance about the website’s identity.
3. Trustworthiness: Browsers rely on trusted Certificate Authorities (CAs) to issue SSL certificates. When a certificate expires, it indicates that the website owner has not renewed or updated the certificate in a timely manner. This lack of attention to security may erode trust in the website and raise concerns about the website’s overall security practices.
4. Potential for Phishing Attacks: Expired SSL certificates can be exploited by attackers to create phishing websites that mimic legitimate ones. By obtaining an expired certificate for a similar domain, attackers can make their fraudulent websites appear more trustworthy. Browsers display warnings to alert users to the potential risk of interacting with such websites.

To protect users from these risks, modern web browsers display warnings or risk notices when encountering expired SSL certificates. These warnings are designed to inform users about the potential security implications and encourage caution when interacting with the website. Users should exercise caution and avoid entering sensitive information or performing financial transactions on websites with expired SSL certificates, unless they have a thorough understanding of the risks involved.

How to renew or activate SSL/TLS certificate ?

If you are using cloudflare you have to Make changes Your SSL/TLS encryption mode to Off (Not secure) No encryption applied Option.

*Note: You can learn How to setup cloudflare free?

And also you have to turn of automatic HTTPS Rewrites in Cloudflare.

If you are not using cloudflare then you can skip this steps.

Let’s Start our main process.

01. Log in to your cPanel.
02. Go to SSL/TLS Status
03. you may see like this & check mark all the domain

04. Click on Run AutoSSL & wait few seconds.
05. After complete SSL encryption you will see like this

If there is showing Green lock sign Congratulations Your site is SSL encrypted. Now your sites SSL notice will remove.

*NOTE: Your hosting provider must have provides your FREE or Any kinds of SSL certificate with the your hosting package otherwise you have to install external certificate manually.

And now you can turn on all the settings on cluodflare which have turn off before.
Thank you for reading I’m hope full this may helped you.