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    SSL & Web Security Learning Center

    Expert guides and tutorials on SSL/TLS certificates, encryption, PKI, and digital security. Explore the bylines, dates and sources in each guide before applying it to your environment.

    205
    Guides published
    Oct 22, 2026
    Last guide updated
    Daniel Rehak
    Contributor articles
    Primary sources
    CA/B Forum, RFCs, vendor docs

    Browse by Topic

    Code Signing
    28 articles
    SSL Basics
    16 articles
    Guides & Tutorials
    63 articles
    Security
    56 articles
    Comparisons
    13 articles
    Installation
    25 articles
    SSL Configuration
    4 articles

    205 articles found

    Guides

    How to Sign an MSI or MSIX Installer (Step by Step)

    Sign MSI and MSIX installers with SignTool: why packages sign from the inside out, the one-signature-per-MSI rule that breaks dual signing, the MSIX publisher-match check behind error 0x8007000B, and how Inno Setup, NSIS, and WiX bundles each get signed.

    My-SSL TeamJul 8, 202612 min
    Code Signing

    Code Signing in CI/CD: How to Automate Signing Without Exposing Your Key

    Since 2023 there's no key file to paste into a CI secret — automating signatures means connecting the pipeline to certified hardware. Compare USB tokens on self-hosted runners, SimplySign cloud sessions on a dedicated agent, and pipeline-native services, plus the design rules that keep unattended signing safe.

    My-SSL TeamJul 7, 202612 min
    Guides

    How to Sign a JAR with jarsigner (Step by Step)

    Sign a JAR with jarsigner: find your alias with keytool, sign from a keystore file or a PKCS#11 hardware token, timestamp with -tsa, verify with -verify -certs -strict, and decode the warnings — including why modern JDKs treat SHA-1-signed JARs as unsigned.

    My-SSL TeamJul 6, 202612 min
    Code Signing

    Code Signing Timestamps: Why Your Signature Outlives Your Certificate

    A timestamp is a TSA's signed proof of when you signed — it's what keeps every shipped build trusted after your certificate expires. How RFC 3161 timestamping works, the commands for SignTool, PowerShell, and jarsigner, and the cases where a timestamp can't help.

    My-SSL TeamJul 5, 202611 min
    Code Signing

    Cloud Code Signing vs USB Tokens: Where Should Your Signing Key Live?

    Since June 2023 every code signing key must live on certified hardware — the question is whose. Compare USB tokens, cloud signing (SimplySign), and your own HSM on delivery time, team sharing, CI/CD fit, and what happens when things get lost.

    My-SSL TeamJul 4, 202611 min
    Code Signing

    Windows SmartScreen and Code Signing: How Publisher Reputation Works

    Why SmartScreen still warns on signed apps, how file-hash and publisher reputation build, what EV no longer does, and what the 460-day certificate limit means for reputation at renewal.

    My-SSL TeamJul 3, 202610 min
    Guides

    How to Sign a PowerShell Script (Step by Step)

    Sign a PowerShell script with Set-AuthenticodeSignature: pick the right certificate, force SHA256 (Windows PowerShell 5.1 still defaults to SHA-1), add a timestamp, verify with Get-AuthenticodeSignature, and fix HashMismatch, UnknownError, and the untrusted-publisher prompt.

    My-SSL TeamJul 3, 202612 min
    Guides

    How to Sign an EXE with SignTool (Step by Step)

    Sign a Windows EXE with SignTool: install it from the Windows SDK, run signtool sign with /fd SHA256 and an RFC 3161 timestamp, verify the result, and fix the errors most first attempts hit.

    My-SSL TeamJul 3, 202612 min
    Security

    What Is Mutual TLS (mTLS)? How Two-Way Certificate Authentication Works

    Mutual TLS (mTLS) has both the client and server present a certificate, so each proves its identity during the TLS handshake. Learn how the two-way handshake works, where client certificates come from, when to use mTLS, and how it differs from API keys.

    My-SSL TeamJul 2, 202613 min
    Installation

    How to Install an SSL Certificate on HAProxy (SSL Termination Guide)

    Install an SSL certificate on HAProxy and terminate TLS at the edge: build the combined PEM, configure the HTTPS bind line, force HTTPS, harden ciphers and HSTS, then re-encrypt to your backends.

    My-SSL TeamJul 1, 202615 min
    SSL Basics

    What Is a Private Key? SSL Private Keys Explained

    A private key is the secret half of your SSL certificate's key pair, generated with your CSR and never shared. Learn what it is, why the CA never sees it, where it lives, how to protect it, and what to do if you lose it.

    My-SSL TeamJun 30, 202613 min
    Security

    What Is TLS Termination? SSL Offloading and Re-Encryption Explained

    TLS termination (SSL offloading) decrypts HTTPS at a load balancer so backend servers don't have to. Learn how it works, the difference between termination, passthrough, and bridging, the plaintext-backend risk, and when to re-encrypt.

    My-SSL TeamJun 29, 202613 min

    All guides by topic

    Every guide in the Learning Hub, grouped by subject. 205 articles covering SSL/TLS certificates, code signing, S/MIME, PKI and server configuration.

    Code Signing

    28 guides

    SSL Basics

    16 guides

    Guides

    63 guides

    Security

    56 guides

    Comparisons

    13 guides

    Installation

    25 guides

    How these guides are written and reviewed

    Guides are written by Daniel Rehak and other contributors. Check each guide’s sources and date against the current issuer or platform documentation. My-SSL also sells certificates; product recommendations have a commercial relationship to this site. Send corrections with the page URL and supporting source.

    Where a rule has a future effective date, the guide states what applies today and marks the future change separately. The most recently updated guide in this library was updated on Oct 22, 2026.

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