Dive Brief:

• This week, Amazon announced it will offer free SSL/TLS certificates for Amazon Web Services (AWS) resources.
• The resources are being offered through a new service called AWS Certificate Manager.
•  Amazon applied to become a root certificate authority back in June, though the reasons behind that action weren’t clear at the time, according to GeekWire. 

Dive Insight:

Usually purchased from third-party certificate providers, Secure Socket Layer (SSL) /Transport Security Layer (TLS) certificates encrypt web server and web browser communication over a network, according to GeekWire. The process of obtaining and renewing the certificates has always been difficult for developers.

Amazon hopes its new strategy will attract developers by making the certificate process simple and cheap. Developers can spend significant amounts of money each year to obtain and renew certificates, but if Amazon offers them for free and manages the entire process, it could lessen the nuisance.

“Tracking certificate renewal dates, making sure that payment methods are current and then installing the renewal certificate can be more painful that obtaining the original certificate,” according to GeekWire. “Many developers have mistakenly let a certificate lapse, bringing down their application for users.”

Companies that conduct cloud development work may find this type of service can help reduce time and expense. Security is also a growing concern for developers. Businesses and government agencies are increasingly shifting to HTTPS because it verifies the identity of a website or web service for a connecting client and encrypts almost all information sent between a website or service and the user. In January, popular content management system Drupal announced it would move to HTTPS.