“As a browser vendor, Brave wants as many websites as possible to be secure and private. We integrate HTTPS Everywhere to upgrade website connections to HTTPS, but this is possible only if the website owner deploys HTTPS on their site. Because Let’s Encrypt is free and easy to use, it has vastly increased the percentage of domains using HTTPS,” said Yan Zhu, Brave’s Chief Information Security Officer, who previously helped build Let’s Encrypt.

The biggest barrier to ubiquitous HTTPS has been the work needed for site owners to deploy and maintain the technology. In the past, HTTPS certificates had to be manually changed every year or so, which was a hassle for site maintainers. Certificates often required payment, which discouraged adoption both in big bureaucratic organizations and for small sites with limited financial means. Let’s Encrypt drastically alters that landscape by providing certificates which automatically update without requiring manual maintenance by a site owner. And because Let’s Encrypt certificates are free, they’re accessible and remove the barrier of even having to exchange payment information. Today, Let’s Encrypt certificates are used for nearly 70 million sites, including all WordPress.com custom domains and thousands of NASA sites.

We’re thrilled to be supporting Let’s Encrypt to reaffirm our joint commitment to a more secure web, as well as to open source technology. Let’s Encrypt is a non-profit that benefits everyone and that anyone can support, so feel free to contribute at the individual level as well!