Secure Websites on Fastmail

Websites hosted on personal domains can now be secured giving your viewers peace of mind that your website is genuinely yours, and that their interaction with your website is safe from prying eyes.

Security and privacy have always been key parts of who we are as a company. Secure websites is a feature that has been requested frequently and we’re thrilled to announce this step towards making sure our users get the best service.

How do we secure a website? We obtain a certificate for a custom domain and use this to encrypt traffic between the browser and the web server. This means anyone who accesses your website will know that what they’re looking at is protected.

Currently browsers make an effort to highlight sites that are secure. But in an effort to make the web safer for all, soon will instead start highlighting insecure websites. For this reason, we have made providing these certificates for our customers a priority.

Who issues the certificates?

The SSL certificates are issued by Let’s Encrypt, a free and open certificate provider.

Fastmail will automatically ask Let’s Encrypt for certificates for any website on a custom domain hosted with us. Every two months, the certificate will be renewed on the customer’s behalf, at no extra cost.

Ease of use

The good news is that you just need to click one box on your website page to get a certificate for your Fastmail hosted website!

Encryption happens the moment someone enters your web page. The browser they are using will check your website against a publicly available list of certificates. When it finds you have one, it will tell the user that your website is safe and reputable. They will be able to browse without worry.

Security: an ever-changing phenomenon

Back when the web was in its infancy, it was easy to know a website could be trusted. Services have had to adapt to changing times, and SSL certificates are the latest change we are making to ensure our platform offers users the best user experience possible.

Right now, popular browsers like Chrome and Firefox highlight when a website is secure, usually by labelling it in the URL bar. When a website isn’t secured by a certificate, nothing appears in the browser. But this is changing. Soon, browsers will highlight when a website is insecure instead.

If your website is not secure, it makes it more likely data transmitted over untrusted connections like public Wi-Fi networks will be intercepted. The person trying to access your website will also be told that the website is insecure, which can make them nervous. Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates protect your website from appearing to be dangerous.

We have more information about this new feature in our help. If you have any other questions, our friendly Support Team are happy to answer them. They can be reached at support@fastmail.com or on the web portal.