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| <title>How to Encrypt Your Traffic - Apache HTTP Server Version 2.5</title> |
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| <p class="apache">Apache HTTP Server Version 2.5</p> |
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| <a href="http://www.apache.org/">Apache</a> > <a href="http://httpd.apache.org/">HTTP Server</a> > <a href="http://httpd.apache.org/docs/">Documentation</a> > <a href="../">Version 2.5</a> > <a href="./">How-To / Tutorials</a></div><div id="page-content"><div id="preamble"><h1>How to Encrypt Your Traffic</h1> |
| <div class="toplang"> |
| <p><span>Available Languages: </span><a href="../en/howto/encrypt.html" title="English"> en </a> | |
| <a href="../es/howto/encrypt.html" hreflang="es" rel="alternate" title="Español"> es </a> | |
| <a href="../fr/howto/encrypt.html" hreflang="fr" rel="alternate" title="Français"> fr </a></p> |
| </div> |
| |
| <p>This is the how to guide for making your Apache httpd use encryption to transfer |
| data between you and your visitors. Instead of http: links, your site will use |
| https: ones and, if everything is setup correctly, people visiting your site will |
| have their privacy better protected. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| This How-To is intended for people that are not really into SSL/TLS and ciphers |
| and all this crypto techno-babble (We are joking, it's a serious field with |
| serious experts and real problems to solve - but it sounds like techno-babble to |
| anyone not intimate with it). People who have heard that their http: server is |
| not really secure enough nowadays. That spies and bad guys are listening. That even |
| legitimate corporations are inserting data into their web pages and selling |
| profiles of visitors. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| This guide wants to help you migrate your httpd server from serving insecure http: links |
| to encrypted https: ones, without you becoming a SSL expert first. You might get |
| fascinated by all this crypto things and study it more and become a real expert. But |
| you also might not, run a reasonably secure web server nevertheless and do other |
| things good for mankind with your time. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| You will get a rough idea what roles these mysterious things called "certificate" and |
| "private key" play and how they are used to let your visitors be sure they are talking |
| to your server. You will <em>not</em> be told <em>how</em> this works, just how it |
| is used: it's basically about passports. |
| </p> |
| </div> |
| <div id="quickview"><ul id="toc"><li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif" /> <a href="#protocol">A short Introduction Certificates, e.g. Internet Passports</a></li> |
| <li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif" /> <a href="#buycert">Buy a Certificate</a></li> |
| <li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif" /> <a href="#freecert">Get a Free Certificate</a></li> |
| </ul><h3>See also</h3><ul class="seealso"><li><a href="../ssl/ssl_howto.html">SSL How-To</a></li><li><a href="../mod/mod_ssl.html">mod_ssl</a></li><li><a href="../mod/mod_md.html">mod_md</a></li><li><a href="#comments_section">Comments</a></li></ul></div> |
| <div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif" /></a></div> |
| <div class="section"> |
| <h2><a name="protocol" id="protocol">A short Introduction Certificates, e.g. Internet Passports</a> <a title="Permanent link" href="#protocol" class="permalink">¶</a></h2> |
| |
| <p> |
| The TLS protocol (formerly known as SSL) is a way a client and a server |
| can talk to each other without anyone else listening, or better understanding |
| a thing. It is what your browser uses when you open a https: link. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| In addition to having a private conversation with a server, your browser also needs |
| to know that it really talks to the server - and not someone else acting like it. That, |
| next to the encryption, is the other part of the TLS protocol. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| In order to do that, your server does not only need the software for TLS, e.g. the |
| <a href="../mod/mod_http2.html">mod_ssl</a> module, but some sort of identity proof |
| on the Internet. This is commonly referred to as a <em>certificate</em>. Basically, everyone |
| has the same mod_ssl and can encrypt, but only your have <em>your</em> certificate |
| and with that, you are you. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| A certificate is the digital equivalent of a passport. It contains two things: a stamp |
| of approval from the people issuing the passport and a reference to your digital |
| fingerprints, e.g. what is called a <em>private key</em> in encryption terms. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| When you configure your Apache httpd for https: links, you need to give it the certificate and |
| the private key. If you never give the key to anyone else, only you will be able to prove |
| to visitors that the certificate belongs to you. That way, a browser talking to your |
| server a second time will be sure that it is indeed the very same server it talked |
| to before. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| But how does it know that it is the real server, the first time it starts talking to |
| someone? Here, the digital rubber stamping comes into play. The rubber stamp is done |
| by someone else, using her own private key. That person has also a certificate, e.g. |
| her own passport. The browser can make sure that this passport is based on the same |
| key that was used to rubber stamp your server passport. Now, instead of making sure |
| that your passport is correct, it must make sure that the passport of the person that |
| says <em>your</em> passport is correct, is correct. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| And that passport is also rubber stamped digitally, by someone else with a key and a |
| certificate. So the browser only needs to make sure that <em>that</em> one is correct |
| that says it is correct to trust the one that says your server is correct. This trusting |
| game can go to a few or many levels (usually less than 5). |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| In the end, the browser will encounter a passport that is stamped by its own key. It's |
| a Gloria Gaynor certificate that says "I am what I am!". The browser then either trust |
| this Gloria or not. If not, your server is also not trusted. Otherwise, it is. Simple. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| The trust check for the Gloria Gaynors of the Internet is easy: your browser (or your |
| operating system) comes with list of Gloria passports to trust, pre-installed. If it |
| sees a Gloria certificate, it is either in this list or not to be trusted. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| This whole thing works as long as everyone keeps his private keys to himself. Anyone copying |
| such a key can impersonate the key owner. And if the owner can rubber stamp passports, the |
| impersonator can also do that. And all the passports stamped by an impersonator, |
| all those certificates will look 100% valid, indistinguishable from the "real" ones. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| So, this trust model works, but it has its limits. That is why browser makers are so keen |
| on having the correct Gloria Gaynor lists and threaten to expel anyone from it that |
| is careless with her keys. |
| </p> |
| </div><div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif" /></a></div> |
| <div class="section"> |
| <h2><a name="buycert" id="buycert">Buy a Certificate</a> <a title="Permanent link" href="#buycert" class="permalink">¶</a></h2> |
| |
| <p> |
| Well, you can buy one. There are a lot of companies selling Internet Passports as a service. In |
| <a href="https://ccadb-public.secure.force.com/mozilla/IncludedCACertificateReport">this list |
| from Mozilla</a> you find all companies that the Firefox browser trusts. Pick one, visit their |
| website and they will tell you what it costs. And how you need to prove that you are who |
| you claim to be so they can rubber stamp your passport with confidence. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| They all have their own methods, also depending on what kind of passport you apply for, and |
| it's probably some sort of click web interface in a browser. They may send you an email that |
| you need to answer or do something else. In the end, they will show you how to generate |
| your own, unique private key and issue you a stamped passport matching it. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| You then place the key in one file, the certificate in another. Put these on your server, make |
| sure that only a trusted user can read the key file and add it to your httpd configuration. |
| This is extensively covered in the <a href="../ssl/ssl_howto.html">SSL How-To</a>. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| </p> |
| </div><div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif" /></a></div> |
| <div class="section"> |
| <h2><a name="freecert" id="freecert">Get a Free Certificate</a> <a title="Permanent link" href="#freecert" class="permalink">¶</a></h2> |
| |
| <p> |
| There are also companies that offer certificates for web servers free of charge. The pioneer |
| in this is <a href="https://letsencrypt.org">Let's Encrypt</a> which is a service of the |
| <a href="https://www.abetterinternet.org/">Internet Security Research Group (ISRG)</a>, a not-for-profit organization to |
| "reduce financial, technological, and education barriers to secure communication over the |
| Internet." |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| They not only offer free certificates, they also developed an interface that can be used by |
| your Apache httpd to get one. This is where <a href="../mod/mod_md.html">mod_md</a> |
| comes in. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| (zoom out the camera on how to configure mod_md and virtual host...) |
| </p> |
| </div></div> |
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| <p><span>Available Languages: </span><a href="../en/howto/encrypt.html" title="English"> en </a> | |
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| <a href="../fr/howto/encrypt.html" hreflang="fr" rel="alternate" title="Français"> fr </a></p> |
| </div><div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img src="../images/up.gif" alt="top" /></a></div><div class="section"><h2><a id="comments_section" name="comments_section">Comments</a></h2><div class="warning"><strong>Notice:</strong><br />This is not a Q&A section. Comments placed here should be pointed towards suggestions on improving the documentation or server, and may be removed by our moderators if they are either implemented or considered invalid/off-topic. Questions on how to manage the Apache HTTP Server should be directed at either our IRC channel, #httpd, on Libera.chat, or sent to our <a href="https://httpd.apache.org/lists.html">mailing lists</a>.</div> |
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