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- <h3><img class="title" src="images/ic_vpn_lock_dark_blue.png"> Know Where You’re Going</h3>
+ <h3><img class="title" src="images/ic_vpn_lock_dark_blue.png"> Connect with Confidence</h3>
<p>When visiting an encrypted URL (one that begins with HTTPS), the webserver uses an SSL certificate to both encrypt the information sent to the browser and to identify the server.
- The purpose of the server identification is to prevent a machine located between the browser and the webserver from intercepting the traffic in transit, pretending to be the server, and decrypting the information as it is passed along.
- This type of attack is known as a Man In The Middle (MITM) attack. SSL certificates are generated by certificate authorities: companies that verify a server’s identity and produce a certificate for a fee.
+ The purpose of the server identification is to prevent a machine located between the browser and the webserver from pretending to be the server and decrypting the information in transit.
+ This type of attack is known as a Man In The Middle (MITM) attack. SSL certificates are generated by certificate authorities: companies that verify a server’s identity and produce a certificate for a fee.
Android has a list of trusted certificate authorities, and will accept any of their certificates for any website.
It isn’t supposed to be possible for an organization to acquire an SSL certificate for a domain they do not control, but in practice many governments and large corporations have been able to do so.</p>
- <p>The purpose of SSL certificate pinning is to tell the browser that only one specific SSL certificate is to be trusted for a particular domain. Any other valid certificate will be rejected.</p>
+ <p>The purpose of SSL certificate pinning is to tell the browser that only one specific SSL certificate is to be trusted for a particular domain. Any other certificate, even if it is valid, will be rejected.</p>
<p><img class="center" src="images/ssl_certificate_mismatch.png"></p>
<p>SSL certificates expire on a specified date, so even pinned SSL certificates will legitimately need to be updated from time to time.
As a general rule, pinning SSL certificates probably isn’t needed in the majority of cases.
- But for those connecting to their own servers, or for those who suspect that powerful organizations may be targeting them directly, SSL certificate pinning can detect and thwart a MITM attack.</p>
+ But for those who suspect that powerful organizations may be targeting them, SSL certificate pinning can detect and thwart a MITM attack.</p>
<p><img class="center" src="images/pinned_ssl_certificate.png"></p>