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Acme, a brief history of one of the protocols which has changed the Internet

7 days ago
https://blog.brocas.org/2025/12/01/ACME-a-brief-history-of-one-of-the-protocols-which-has-changed-the-Internet-Security/
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  • #ACME Protocol
  • #Let's Encrypt
  • #Internet Security
  • The ACME protocol, developed by Let's Encrypt, revolutionized Internet security by automating the issuance of TLS certificates.
  • Let's Encrypt was founded in 2015 by a coalition including Mozilla, EFF, Akamai, Cisco, and the University of Michigan to provide free, automated certificates.
  • ACME (Automated Certificate Management Environment) enables domain control validation via challenges (HTTP, DNS, TLS) without human intervention.
  • Standardized as RFC 8555 in 2019, ACME is now widely adopted by both free and commercial certificate authorities.
  • Key innovations include External Account Binding (EAB) for commercial CAs and ARI (ACME Renewal Information) for proactive certificate renewal.
  • Let's Encrypt's impact is significant: HTTPS usage rose from ~39% (2015) to over 83% globally, with 700M+ active certificates issued.
  • Future developments include profile selection standardization and a 'pubkey' identifier type to enhance key possession proofs.
  • ACME's flexibility extends beyond TLS, with drafts exploring device attestation certificates, showcasing its potential as a universal challenge framework.
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