Easily use Let's Encrypt to HTTPS-protect your own server, for free The search engines and browser makers are telling us to encrypt all websites. A driving factor is to protect everyone from not only miscreants wanting to hijack the web for nefarious goals, but the government security agencies who are snooping into everything. If everything on the Web is encrypted, then we'll all be better off. Until Let's Encrypt came along, the requirement to encrypt carried with it a high cost of paying for SSL certificates, and therefore many website owners would be unable to keep going. The free Lets Encrypt service opens HTTPS up to regular folk, allowing all website owners to encrypt their web traffic irregardless of how deep their pockets are. With that in mind, let's look into what it takes to set up HTTPS using Let's Encrypt.