How to Create Your Own Digital Certificate Easily and for Free

Have you ever considered creating a self-certificate? Certificates are important documents in the world of business and technology. They help ensure data and information security, integrity, and authentication.

A digital certificate is an electronic document that contains information about the identity and public key of an entity, such as an individual, organization, or server. We can use digital certificates for various purposes, such as encryption, authentication, and digital signatures.

Digital certificates are typically issued by a trusted certificate authority (CA), such as Verisign, DigiCert, or Let’s Encrypt. However, you can also create your digital certificate by using online tools that are free and easy to use.

In this guide, we’ll cover creating a self-certificate and how you can do it with the right steps.

Types of Digital Certificates

Two types of digital certificates are commonly used: CA root digital certificates and server digital certificates.

• A digital root CA certificate is issued by a trusted third-party certification body (CA). These digital certificates are commonly used to sign other digital certificates.
• A server digital certificate is a digital certificate used to secure data communication between a client and a server. These digital certificates are commonly used to secure electronic transactions, such as online shopping and online payments.

What is the Self-Signed Certificate?

Before we get into the steps, let’s understand what exactly is a Self-Signed Certificate. A Self-Signed Certificate is a security certificate issued by a party alone, not by a reputable third-party certificate authority. They are used to encrypt communications and ensure that information cannot be accessed by unauthorized parties.

Benefit Self-Signed Certificate

Why should you consider creating a Self-Signed Certificate? There are several reasons a Self-Signed Certificate can be a good choice:

1. Full Control: With Self-Signed Certificates, you have complete control over the creation and management process. You don’t need to rely on third parties.
2. Low Cost: Self-signed certificates usually do not require an annual subscription fee like certificates from external certificate authorities.
3. Fast: You can create a Self-Signed Certificate quickly, without waiting for a third-party verification process.

Here are some online tools you can use to create your digital certificates:

1] getaCert

getaCert is an online service that provides tools for creating and viewing digital certificate details. You can use getaCert to generate a self-signed digital certificate or certificate request (CSR) that can be sent to the CA to obtain a digital certificate signed by the CA. getaCert can also be used to convert digital certificate formats, such as from PEM to DER or vice versa.

To create a digital certificate with getaCert, you can follow these steps:

1. Visit the getaCert website.
2. Select the Create a Certificate menu.
3. Fill out the form provided with the desired information, such as domain name, organization name, country, province, city, email, and others.
4. Select the type of key you want to use, which is RSA or ECDSA, and the appropriate key size.
5. Click the Create Certificate button.
6. Wait for the certificate creation process to complete.
7. Download the created digital certificate in PEM or DER format.

2] CertificateTools

CertificateTools is a website that provides tools to create X509 digital certificates online. You can use CertificateTools to create a self-signed digital certificate or CSR. CertificateTools also supports advanced features like subject alternative names (SANs), X509 v3 extensions, and private key encryption.

To create a digital certificate with CertificateTools, you can follow these steps:

1. Visit the CertificateTools website.
2. Select the X509 Certificate Generator menu.
3. If you want to use an existing digital certificate as a template, you can upload it by clicking the Upload Existing Certificate as a Template button.
4. Fill out the form provided with the desired information, such as domain name, organization name, country, province, city, email, and others.
5. If you want to add or remove subject attributes, you can click the Add/Remove Attributes button.
6. If you want to add a SAN, you can click the Add a subject alternative name button and select the type of SAN you want, such as DNS Name, IP Address, Email Address, and others.
7. If you want to add an X509 v3 extension, you can click the x509v3 Extensions button and select the desired extension, such as Key Usage, Extended Key Usage, Basic Constraints (CA), and others.
8. Select the type of key you want to use, which is RSA or ECDSA, and the appropriate key size.
9. If you want to encrypt the private key with a passphrase, you can fill in the Private Key Encrypt field with the desired passphrase.
10. Click the Generate Certificate button.
11. Wait for the certificate creation process to complete.
12. Download the created digital certificate in PEM or PKCS#12 format.

3] Rakko Tools

Rakko Tools is a website that provides various online tools for web and networking development purposes. One of the tools provided by Rakko Tools is the SSL Certificate Generator. You can use this tool to create self-signed digital certificates easily and quickly.

To create a digital certificate with Rakko Tools, you can follow these steps:

1. Visit the Rakko Tools website.
2. Pilih menu SSL Certificate Generator.
3. Fill out the form provided with the desired information, such as domain name, organization name, country, province, city, email, and others.
4. Select the type of key you want to use, which is RSA or ECDSA, and the appropriate key size.
5. Click the Generate SSL Certificate button.
6. Wait for the certificate creation process to complete.
7. Download the created digital certificate in PEM format.

4] Docentric AX

Docentric AX is a website that provides tools to create digital certificates online for free. You can use this tool to create a self-signed digital certificate or CSR. It also supports advanced features like SAN, X509 v3 extension, and private key encryption.

To create a digital certificate with Docentric AX, you can follow these steps:

1. Visit the Docentric AX website.
2. Pilih menu Free Self-Signed Certificate Generator.
3. Fill out the form provided with the desired information, such as domain name, organization name, country, province, city, email, and others.
4. If you want to add a SAN, you can click the Add Subject Alternative Name button and select the type of SAN you want, such as DNS Name, IP Address, Email Address, and others.
5. If you want to add an X509 v3 extension, you can click the Add X509 v3 Extension button and select the desired extension, such as Key Usage, Extended Key Usage, Basic Constraints (CA), and others.
6. Select the type of key you want to use, which is RSA or ECDSA, and the appropriate key size.
7. If you want to encrypt the private key with a passphrase, you can fill in the Private Key Password field with the desired passphrase.
8. Click the Generate Certificate button.
9. Wait for the certificate creation process to complete.
10. Download the created digital certificate in PEM or PKCS#12 format.

Conclusion

A digital certificate is an electronic document that contains information about the identity and public key of an entity. Digital certificates can be used for various purposes, such as encryption, authentication, and digital signatures.

Digital certificates are typically issued by a trusted certificate authority (CA). However, you can also create your digital certificate by using online tools that are free and easy to use. Some of the online tools you can use to create your digital certificates are getaCert, CertificateTools, Rakko Tools, and Docentric AX

Using these tools, you can create self-signed digital certificates or CSRs easily and quickly. You can also customize the information and features contained in the digital certificate according to your needs.