Self-signed certificate
A self-signed certificate is a digital certificate whose signature is created by the same entity and key identified by the certificate rather than by a certificate authority.
Software Security for Developers
A self-signed certificate is a certificate whose signature is created using the private key corresponding to its own public key rather than a separate certificate authority's key.
- How it is used
- Supports testing or internal HTTPS when certificate trust is configured deliberately, while warning against public or production use.
- How deep it goes
- Explains the subject-issuer relationship, OpenSSL creation, trust-chain failure, validation risks, and the private-CA alternative.
- Examples
- Uses an internal checkout-inventory call, an OpenSSL signing command, browser warnings, and local development with a personal CA.
- What you can do after
- Apply OpenSSL to create a certificate, diagnose validation failures, and configure a trusted local CA instead of disabling validation.
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Learn PowerShell Scripting in a Month of Lunches, Second Edition: Write and organize scripts and tools
A self-signed certificate is a digital certificate signed by its own subject rather than by an independent certificate authority.
- How it is used
- Supports personal development, testing, and local PowerShell code signing rather than shared deployment.
- How deep it goes
- Explains creation, certificate discovery, private-key protection, and local root trust, while deferring internal PKI details.
- Examples
- Uses New-SelfSignedCertificate, Cert:\CurrentUser\My, thumbprints, and Certmgr.msc to create, locate, and trust certificates.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via PowerShell to create and locate a local code-signing certificate and configure its root as trusted.
Learn Docker in a Month of Lunches, Second Edition
A self-signed certificate is a digital certificate whose signature is produced by the same entity identified by the certificate.
- How it is used
- Secures nonproduction sites over HTTPS while centralizing SSL termination in a reverse proxy.
- How deep it goes
- Explains generation, mounting, redirecting, and reloading, but defers detailed protocol and cipher configuration.
- Examples
- Uses a Dockerized image-gallery site, OpenSSL-generated files, Nginx configuration, HTTP redirects, and a Firefox warning.
- What you can do after
- Operate/configure a local HTTPS site by generating certificates and wiring them into Nginx.
Read how Learn Docker in a Month of Lunches, Second Edition explains self-signed certificate →
Kubernetes for Developers
A self-signed certificate is a certificate signed by its own subject rather than by a trusted certificate authority.
- How it is used
- Provides encrypted HTTPS for demonstration or controlled environments when a trusted certificate is unnecessary.
- How deep it goes
- Explains certificate creation, Kubernetes Secret storage, Ingress configuration, DNS mapping, and browser warnings.
- Examples
- Uses OpenSSL commands, a my-tls-cert Secret, an example.com Ingress, and a local hosts-file mapping.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via OpenSSL, kubectl, and an Ingress configuration to expose an encrypted endpoint.
Read how Kubernetes for Developers explains self-signed certificate →
Related concepts
- certificatekind of · A digital certificate is a digitally signed credential that binds an identity to a public key and supports authentication or secure communication.
- OpenSSLproduced by · OpenSSL is an open-source software library and toolkit implementing cryptographic algorithms, secure-communication protocols, and operations involving keys and certificates.
- certificate chaincontrasts with · A certificate chain is an ordered sequence of digital certificates linking an end-entity certificate through intermediate authorities to a trusted root certificate.
- code-signing certificatealternative to · A code-signing certificate is a digital certificate used to authenticate software's signer and verify the integrity of signed code.
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