Modern Alternatives to Outdated Certificate Pinning Practices

The article on the Cloudflare blog discusses the concept of certificate pinning, a security technique used to verify the authenticity and integrity of SSL/TLS certificates. Initially, certificate pinning was a popular method for preventing man-in-the-middle attacks, where hackers could intercept data being transmitted between users and servers. However, over time, many drawbacks of this technique began to emerge, leading to problems with application availability and usability. The article emphasizes that the complexity involved in managing keys and certificates through pinning is increasing, and the lack of flexibility can result in serious complications for organizations when needing to update a certificate or change service providers. Instead of relying on certificate pinning, the author suggests focusing on standard security practices and verifying certificate chains using Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). In conclusion, the article highlights the benefits of streamlined key and certificate management within existing security frameworks, which can offer greater flexibility and security for the long run.