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'Let's Encrypt' Will Try to Secure the Internet
The Linux Foundation will support a project seeking to develop an easy tool for encrypting website and mobile data traffic.
Credit: InformationWeek
The Linux Foundation announced it will support the Internet Security Research Group's (ISRG) "Let's Encrypt" project, which is seeking to develop an easy-to-use tool for encrypting website and mobile data traffic.
ISRG was formed in 2014 as a public benefit corporation, and there currently are 40 developers from multiple companies and organizations working on the project.
Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin says his organization will support Let's Encrypt with "whatever they need" to take it from pilot project to widely available Internet service. The group's support most likely will take the form of funds for hiring full-time employees to work on the project.
Let's Encrypt is similar to the effort that yielded the OpenSSL encryption standard in the late 1990s. SSL has since become a mainstay among websites seeking to encrypt and protect their traffic. However, several major vulnerabilities, most notoriously the Heartbleed bug discovered last year, have undermined confidence in OpenSSL, so the hope is Let's Encrypt can produce a more reliable tool.
Zemlin says the goal is to remove the cost barriers associated with strong encryption, which he says should enable the encryption of message traffic on the Internet to be "universally adopted."
From InformationWeek
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