Certificate Management Service:[Change notice] Notice of changes in the two-year validity periods of SSL certificates and their impacts

From September 1, 2020, Apple, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox will reduce the allowed validity period of trusted SSL certificates from 825 days to 398 days. In response to the changes, CA vendors plan to shorten the maximum validity periods. Therefore, Alibaba Cloud plans to stop selling SSL certificates that are valid for two years beginning from August 20, 2020.

• From August 20, 2020, if you purchase a new SSL certificate, the maximum validity period allowed is 365 days. If you renew an SSL certificate, the maximum validity period allowed for the renewed certificate is 398 days.
• If an SSL certificate is deployed before August 27, 2020, it is not affected. If you want to change or add domains for the certificate, the maximum validity period of the new certificate cannot be longer than 398 days.

To deal with these changes and reduce their impact, we recommend that you take the following measures:

• Pay close attention to the validity periods of your SSL certificates and make sure that the certificates are valid under the new rules. This prevents service interruption caused by certificate expiration. You can also purchase the hosting service of Alibaba Cloud SSL Certificates Service. It automatically renews certificates. For example, if you pay for a two-year hosting service, Alibaba Cloud SSL Certificates Service automatically issues a new certificate for you 30 days before your certificate expires for the first year. The hosting service automatically deploys your certificate on cloud services five times.
• Automate certificate management by using tools. In the SSL Certificates Service console, Upload Certificate allows you to manage your certificates throughout the lifecycle.