What is an Exchange Wildcard Certificate, and how does it work.

What is an Exchange Wildcard Certificate, and how does it work.

An Exchange wildcard certificate is a type SSL certificate that protects your primary domain, also known as a (Fully Qualified Domain Name), and an unlimited number of sub-domains on any first-level. It secures the main domain and its other first-level sub-domain; a few examples are www.yourdomain.com, mail.yourdomain.com, and login.yourdomain.com all these are covered by the exchange wildcard certificate.

Microsoft Exchange server developed by Microsoft is a mail server which is used as a messaging and collaboration platform in enterprise IT environments. It can only be used on systems running under Windows operating systems. Before 2007 exchange servers didn’t mandate SSL certificates, this meant data transmitted was unencrypted. Microsoft made it mandatory for one to install Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)/ Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificates on future servers to ensure that data being transmitted remains encrypted over HTTP connection.

An Exchange Wildcard is just a regular wildcard SSL certificate that you install on a Microsoft Exchange server. When installed, it should provide an Industry-standard 2048bit RSA signature key and 256bit encryption; this ensures data is protected from being read or stolen. While purchasing the certificate, place an asterisk before the domain level, you want to encrypt, this allows all the sub-domain variants to be automatically protected no matter how many sub-domains are added later.

Works in different capacities as it uses an x509 digital certificate. It also helps to encrypt your website’s connections through HTTPS in the sense that it confirms the authenticity and security of your website. Your users can safely and securely access the website. An Exchange Wildcard certificate authenticates the server and potentially the organization running the website. It also requires the generation of certificate signing request from the organization to be allowed access. An Exchange wildcard certificate makes it easy for the management of your SSL certificate.

An Exchange wildcard certificate is associated with private and public keys pairs. This means when the private and public keys are used together, the public key encrypts data and the private key decrypts and restores data that is transmitted. When we say the Exchange wildcard certificate encrypts the first level sub-domain, we are not talking of a few, it means an unlimited number of sub-domains. This differs from a multi-domain wildcard SSL certificate, which covers multiple domains and an unlimited number of sub-domains for them.

There are a few things that are considered necessary when using an Exchange wildcard Certificate on your Exchange 2010 or 2016 servers.

• Choose a reputable and well-known Certificate authority to do your research thoroughly to ensure you get a certificate that will not disappoint you.
• Use Certificate Authority-signed certificates on a client- and external-facing servers and connections. You should avoid using self-signed certificates that are not authorized by a certificate authority on any external sites.
• It’s best to use a Certificate Authority-signed certificate because they’re automatically trusted without any additional configurations required.
• Use as few certificates as possible this will help to control the security on your website. This is just a certificate management best practice, but it also applies to these certificates as well.

Limitations

• It cannot be used with other top-level domains. For example, you cannot use domain.com for domain.net.
• You can use only to use wildcard certificates for hostnames at the level of the wildcard. A good example, you can’t use the *.dominc.com certificate for www.eu.dominc.com.
• If one key is compromised on one domain or sub-domain, this means all domains and sub-domains it’s installed on are compromised.
• Wildcards aren’t available with Extended Validation certificates. Exchange Wildcard certificate is issued with Organizational validation and Domain validation.

How do you get an Exchange Wildcard Certificate?

• Choose an Exchange Wildcard certificate. It is best to choose one from Microsoft Exchange and communication server.
• Generate a certificate signing request. Choose the right certificate, generate a certificate signing request, and fill out your information accurately. The certificate authority will check the details.
• Complete the order process. Once the certificate signing request is done and sent. The order process should be filled and wait for the order confirmation mail to be sent. A link will be sent to submit to the CSR.
• Vetting will be done on your organization to determine legitimacy. The certificate’s validation level will determine the intensity of the investigation.
• The CA will share the certificate files through your email. The files must be downloaded, and the certificate can be installed to your server.