When to Use a Keytool Self Signed CertificateĪn SSL certificate serves two essential purposes: distributing the public key and verifying the identity of the server so users know they aren't sending their information to the wrong server.
Most situations require that you buy a trusted certificate, but there are many cases when you can generate and use a self signed certificate for free. Fortunately, it is (usually) quite simple to do using Java Keytool. Securing your Java application with an SSL certificate can be extremely important.