Certificates in secure network services
Each SSL/TLS secured network service (secure web, receiving and sending e-mail) has a certificate at the Department of Computer Science. The certificate associated with each service contains the server name, other information and the digital signature of a trusted certification authority. In practice, the certificates tell the user that the server is the one that it claims to be.
All CS Department certificates are signed by HY-CA. HY-CA in the University of Helsinki CA.
Installing the HY-CA root certificate
We recommend installing the HY-CA root certificate into all e-mail applications and web browsers before using secure network services. Having installed the root certificate, all valid certificates are accepted automatically and you are notified of potentially malicious servers only. (If the HY-CA root certificate is not installed, you are notified of an unknown certification authority with each service.)
The HY-CA root certificate is ready installed in all recommended e-mail applications and web browsers at the CS Department.
The root certificate needs to be installed manually for home and remote use according to the IT Department's instructions (Linux/Pine/OpenSSL: see this document).
itsupport@cs.helsinki.fi