Today, server administrators can choose to deploy their own self-signed SSL/TLS certificates that are free to generate. The major stumbling block for self-signed certificates is that, unfortunately, they fundamentally provide zero authentication assurance, said Stephen Ludin, chief architect, Akamai and ISRG board member.
“A browser will and/or should throw up a warning encouraging the user to not trust the site as there is no way to tell if the site you are accessing is really who they say they are,” Ludin told eWEEK. “In the case of ISRG and the Let’s Encrypt initiative, the certificates generated are legitimate certs and will be trusted by a significant percentage of browsers right out of the gate.”