SSL and https

[richard]

I have just upgraded the forum software and installed SSL. This "secures" the connection between your browser and the lner.info server. Most browsers will show a small padlock next to the web address - eg. like when you access a banking website.

You should now use "https:" instead of "http:" to access the site's pages but an auto-redirect will forward you if you don't.

When linking to external images: Check if your image host supports SSL. If so, please remember to use "https://" or just "//" before the image's domain name. You won't break things if you don't, but some browsers (e.g. Firefox) will warn that some of the page is insecure (typically an exclamation mark next to the padlock). In the big scheme of things I don't think we need to worry about the security of those images, but it looks better for users. Also some browsers can be set to refuse insecure images that are on a secure page!

Why switch? There has been a push by the browser manufacturers and many of the larger internet organisations (e.g. EFF and Google) for increased use of SSL for increased security. For us, it secures the password login system, private messages, and public posting from man-in-the-middle attacks. It also improves our profile in Google/etc and generally makes the site look a little bit more reputable.

Note: As I type this, the static part of the site has not had its images/etc switched over yet, so these pages will give the exclamation mark warnings - at least for the next few days until I fix them (an easy fix but a slow one to implement).

Let me know if you see any problems.