Certificate Decoder





About Certificate Decoder

About Certificate Decoder

 

It is pretty common to run into plenty of trouble if you are fetching a bunch of SSL certificates mixed up. Installing the incorrect SSL certificate on the wrong server won't cause an eruption or anything, but it will surely lead to lost time, and effort and cause you a huge headache. You might be just double-checking whether the certificate you issued contains accurate information. 

 

Mistakes happen and human activities are prone to them. So it's better to realize before you install the certificate instead of finding it out later. And for this, there is a tool developed which is called Certificate Decoder, to help you verify if the information in your SSL certificate is correct or not. In this article, we shall look in depth at the features of Certificate Decoder and its benefits to people. So let's get started.

 

What is a Certificate Decoder tool?

 

The encrypted communication between the website and the server is provided by SSL Certificate which is a reliable protocol and it includes information considering the certificate receiver, certificate issuer, hash value, expiry date, MD5 fingerprints, etc. 

 

All these details can be checked using Certificate Decoder which will show you the authenticity of your certificate details, it is nothing but an encoded text that encloses all the information from the certificate. It is important to note that your certificate should commence with “—–BEGIN CERTIFICATE—–” and end with “—–END CERTIFICATE—–”

 

Any decoder's ease of practice is one of its many significant features. Moreover, it should be easy to navigate as well as simple to install and operate. The important characteristics to look out for are: 

 

  •  Detection: How fast can a certificate's validity be detected by the certificate decoder? Is it competent enough for error-free public key authentication? 
  • Decoding: How fast a certificate's text can be read by the certificate decoder? Is the data decompressed by it? You should go for a decoder that can decode the data if it takes more time to read the contents than usual. Does the decoder possess the potential to encrypt or decrypt data?
  • Certificate storage: Can the certificates be stored in the decoder? Whether the certificates can be exported and imported? How handily accessible are its settings? Can its features be switched on and off without operating on a step sequence? 

 

Features of Certificate Decoder

 

Supports multi formats

 

The Certificate Decoder tool quickly decodes any SSL Certificate that is inputted regardless of what the format is, whether it is a DER, PEM or PFX encoded SSL Certificate. It acts instantly and accurately to scrape all the information from your certificate and allot it in a way that is easy to comprehend.

 

Detailed report 

 

Some of the information that is shown in the report generated by the Certificate Decoder tool is the Encryption Algorithm, web server name, alternate web server name, Issuer Name, SSL certificate validity period and Serial Number. Furthermore, some websites also display RAW SSL file data for the users to confirm. Users are required to input either the entire SSL file if not the encoded SEL certificate to decode SSL certificates. 

 

Additional checks

 

Along with certificate decoding, it also conducts some additional certificate checks such as key size, key strength, certificate validity up to date, and signature algorithm. After decoding a particular certificate it reveals the issuer name, web server name, valid up to, organization unit, fingerprint, certificate serial number, and certificate ASN.1 Information and many more.

 

Validates CSR signatures

 

A Certificate Signing Request is among the considerably essential documents of CSR when it arrives to getting an SSL certificate issued. When you produce a CSR, you are believed to provide valid, verifiable information. The certificate Decoder tool helps in verifying the validity of the CSR signature. 

 

Checks the key size of CSRs and Certificates

 

The SSL certificate is represented as the website’s public key and confirms its identity and evidence to authenticate it to be a legal site. The private key is kept protected and safe, while any other gadget or API request attempting to access the site will have to reference the public key to validate the site’s identity.

 

Checks the validity period of Certificates

 

A certificate has a predefined validity period that includes a beginning date and time and expiration date and time. After certificate issuance, an issued certificate's validity span cannot be altered. Therefore it is necessary to check the validity period of your certificate which can be done with the use of a Certificate Decoder. 

 

Checks a Debian weak key

 

The Certificate Decoder can aid uncovered certificates and CSRs that have been contained by Debian's weak keys. It can assist in finding the deployed certificates that have weak keys. Likewise, it procures a certificate audit service that amongst several other things will benefit from tracking down certificates with Debian's weak keys. 

 

Steps to use Certificate Decoder

 

Although using this tool is very easy below are some simple steps to get started with the Certificate Decoder tool

 

  • Firstly access the decoder site. 
  • Paste the certificate text in the box provided. 
  • Click on the submit button. 
  • The report shows the decoded form of the certificate containing details regarding the certificate receiver, certificate issuer, expiry date, etc. 
  • Likewise, you can use this tool multiple times for different certificates. 

 

Benefits of using, Certificate Decoder

 

Increasing Site Traffic 

 

The certificate Decoder tool gives promising and efficient results in indexing the site for increased traffic. As understood, that massive and relevant traffic is directly proportional to gaining from websites through associated blogs, marketing, etc.

 

Boost in SEO

 

While surveying through websites, you might have come across the message saying ‘your connection to the website is not entirely secure’ before even the website gets loaded. This is because an SSL certificate installed on the website is not present.

 

This threat message can give off a frightening experience to the user passing into your website online. As a website owner, you can use this feature to succeed over your competition. Having an SSL certificate encourages improving the ranking of your website to a significant level.

 

Secured E-commerce Payments 

 

Nowadays, website visitors are becoming attentive to the information they share on the Internet, a wise person will never share his credit card details and other bank details on a site that is not safe. Therefore, it has been made compulsory for a business website to possess an SSL certificate so that it is confirmed that it is obliging with the PCI security standards formulated by the credit card industries. 

 

If the SSL Certificate is not present then no online business website can even imagine reaching profitable marketing on them. When visitors notice actual security visual cues on a business website, they’ll get a more secure and trusted experience for their online shopping. 

 

Enhanced Traffic and Conversion Rates

 

Whenever you reinforce SSL security on your website, it strengthens its security for potential visitors. An authorized and secured website will emerge in visitors regularly arriving at your website and thereby gaining loyalty towards your website. Search engines also analyze these minute aspects as well for electing the ranking of any website. 

 

Once it has been discovered that a fraction of visitors is constantly showing up on your site, there will be an increase in web traffic. The search engines infer that your site has been successfully qualified to procure a safe and secure platform for users when searching for specific services.

 

Tie-Breaker for two Similar Ranking Sites

 

In the year 2005, Google declared that if two websites carry the exact criteria, then it is HTTPS and the composure of an SSL certificate will be considered as the distinguishing parameter. 

 

By default, web browsers tend to prefer a better secure website so that the user's information stays safeguarded to all extents. SSL certification and HTTPS have now served as essential factors today for a maximum of the sites hosted on the web.

 

Certificate Decoder can be used by:

 

 Online Business Websites 

 

Search Engine Optimization or SEO performs as the lifeline on the Internet for all websites. Online business websites require SEO for learning about their competition and rising with better digital strategies to gain a higher ranking. If discovered that there is a drop in the webpage rankings, then it will not be marked in the top SERPS, thereby decreasing the visibility of the website to the very least. Therefore, an organic SEO has to have a mandatory verification of an SSL certification for strengthening the SERP rankings.

 

Companies 

 

companies can decode blocks of the encoded script, with the use of a quality SSL certificate and CSR decoder, detect inaccuracies, and present contents in an understandable format, assuring that everything is proper and in order before the certificates are installed on the server.

 

CSR files comprise relevant data such as organization name, public key, country, locality, and more so negligence can indeed prove costly. Therefore, the best action is to double-check all your issued certificates before they are installed. This way, even if you encounter an error, you can get to work on producing a fresh CSR and reissuing the certificate. 

 

Website Owner

 

As a website owner, you can use this tool as an opportunity to introduce enhanced faith among your users. Some web browsers such as Chrome will display your SSL certification and once the visitors visit your website, they will receive a sense of security while performing any online transaction on your website. 

 

This impacts a computerized redirection of traffic to your site with considerable growth in the SERP rankings, hence, granting you an upper hand over your competitors. Possessing an SSL certificate for your website can be an outstanding tool for enhancing your website’s SEO plus the visibility of your webpage.

 

Any individual 

 

It's quite common to get stuck in a bit of a problem when it comes to organizing SSL certificates. Whether you're attending to multiple orders at the exact time or you just want to be assured that you have received the correct certificate, it's always a sensible choice to decide on the certificate. 

 

It is very difficult to point out anything with just a glance at the certificate because all it includes are random numbers and symbols. In such a case Certificate Decoder tool helps you solve the contents of the certificate into an understandable format and make sure that all of the information enclosed within is appropriate.

 

Final Thoughts 

 

With the use of this free online tool, you can instantly scan your DER, PEM or PFX-encoded SSL certificates. All you require to do is paste the digital certificate’s alphanumeric symbols and characters into the box provided and then the decoder will do its work. 

 

Uniformity is the tagline for available free decoding tools, and as such this option is practically indistinguishable from the rest: just paste the text of your certificate into the box and it will be converted into effortlessly readable text.