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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

    Security

    Certificate Trust Stores: Why One Certificate Works in Chrome and Fails in Java

    There is no single trust store on a machine. Chrome ships its own on every platform except iOS, Java validates against a cacerts file that only changes when you update the JDK, and Node, Python and curl each read a bundle of their own. Why the same certificate passes in one and fails in another, and how to read the lists yourself.

    My-SSL TeamAug 12, 202615 min
    Guides

    How to Set Up S/MIME in Google Workspace (Gmail)

    Google splits this across four help pages, so people stall at whichever gate doesn't apply to them. Which editions actually include hosted S/MIME, why Business Plus isn't one of them, the root certificate rule most internal CAs fail, and the only way to deploy past a handful of mailboxes.

    My-SSL TeamAug 12, 202614 min
    Guides

    Java Keytool Commands Cheat Sheet: Keystore, CSR, Import and Trust

    Two details break more Java certificate installs than everything else: the SAN extension does not carry over into the CSR, and importing the CA's reply under a new alias returns success while storing something no server can use. Verified against OpenJDK 21.

    Daniel RehakAug 11, 202616 min
    Installation

    How to Install an SSL Certificate on Exchange Server

    Importing the certificate is the half of the job nobody notices is unfinished. The two commands that replace the admin center steps Microsoft removed, which names a public CA will refuse to issue, and why the Services column stays empty until you bind it yourself.

    My-SSL TeamAug 11, 202615 min
    Security

    PCI DSS SSL/TLS Certificate Requirements: What v4.0.1 Actually Says

    PCI DSS never names EV, OV or DV — a domain-validated certificate satisfies the text. What Requirements 4.2.1, 4.2.1.1 and 12.3.3 really ask of your certificates, why two of them only became mandatory in March 2025, and how 200-day lifetimes doubled the work behind them.

    My-SSL TeamAug 10, 202613 min
    Guides

    Using a Commercial CA With cert-manager in Kubernetes

    cert-manager is not a Let's Encrypt client. What External Account Binding actually does, which validation levels a paid ACME endpoint can issue on its own, and what to do with the OV certificate that arrives as an email attachment instead.

    My-SSL TeamAug 9, 202614 min
    Comparisons

    Sigstore vs Code Signing Certificates: What Each One Can Actually Prove

    Sigstore signs packages and images for free, and Windows ignores it completely. Why Fulcio's root never reaches the Microsoft Trusted Root Program, where a detached bundle stops mattering, and which half of your release needs a certificate you pay for.

    My-SSL TeamAug 9, 202614 min
    Comparisons

    Code Signing vs SSL/TLS Certificates: What Actually Differs in 2026

    Both are X.509 certificates from a publicly trusted CA, and neither can do the other's job. The Extended Key Usage field that blocks the substitution, the hardware key rule that only applies to one of them, and why the website certificate is now the one you renew more often.

    My-SSL TeamAug 8, 202613 min
    Guides

    Cloudflare SSL Modes Explained: Flexible, Full, and Full (Strict)

    The padlock a visitor sees only covers the hop to Cloudflare. What Off, Flexible, Full and Full (Strict) do to the second hop, why Flexible plus an origin redirect rule is a closed loop, and why Automatic SSL/TLS may have already moved your zone without asking.

    My-SSL TeamAug 8, 202615 min
    Security

    What Is Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS)? How TLS Protects Past Sessions

    If someone steals your server's private key tomorrow, can they read the traffic they recorded today? Forward secrecy is the difference between yes and no — how ephemeral Diffie-Hellman works, why TLS 1.3 made it mandatory, and the session-ticket setting that quietly undoes it.

    My-SSL Security TeamAug 8, 202613 min
    Security

    How to Prepare for Shorter SSL Certificate Lifetimes (47-Day Certificates)

    The 47-day era is scheduled: 100-day certificates from March 2027, 47 days from March 2029, validation reuse down to 10 days. A four-step operational playbook — inventory, automation, validation, monitoring — with a year-by-year timeline.

    My-SSL TeamAug 7, 202612 min
    Installation

    How to Install an SSL Certificate on Postfix and Dovecot

    The two daemons share one certificate and want it packaged two different ways. Which objects go in which file and in what order, the Dovecot 2.4 rename that breaks configurations no certificate ever touched, and the one port where requiring encryption quietly costs you mail.

    My-SSL TeamAug 7, 202616 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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