What is HSTS?
HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) is a security mechanism for HTTPS connections.
If HSTS is activated, the web server sends an additional header (Strict Transport Security) for HTTPS connections with the information that the requested page should only be accessed via an encrypted connection for a certain period of time.
How do I activate HSTS?
The HSTS header can be activated in the Hostpoint Control Panel as follows:
- Log in to the Hostpoint Control Panel with your Hostpoint ID.
- Open your server and switch to “Websites” on the left.
- Under the website where you want to activate the HSTS header, click on “Edit”.
- Scroll down to the “SSL encryption” section and expand it.
- Here you can enable and configure HSTS.
Note: Please not that this option is only visible if the website is running on Nginx.
If a browser sees this header of an HTTPS website, it knows that this domain can only be accessed via HTTPS (SSL or TLS). It will then deny unencrypted access. The browser stores this information for the time specified in “max-age”. It is therefore important to ensure that your website and any subdomains are completely accessible via HTTPS and for all content to be exclusively referenced via HTTPS before you activate HSTS.
It is common practice to first activate HSTS with short periods of time and then gradually extend it. For example, start with 5 minutes (300 seconds) and test your website extensively. Then increase the value for “max-age” step by step to one hour (3600 seconds), one day (86400), one week (604800) as you feel confident. It is recommended to set the value for “max-age” to more than 120 days (10368000), ideally to one year (31536000).
Websites should aim to use the maximum “max-age” to ensure increased security for the current domain in the long run.
If this value is set to 0 seconds, the corresponding HSTS information will be deleted. To do so, wait at least for the previously entered value of time. For example, if you set 10368000 seconds (120 days), you must wait at least 120 days until the previous HSTS information is safely deleted from all browsers.
IncludeSubdomains
By activating the “IncludeSubdomains” option, the HSTS settings apply to all subdomains. If you deactivate this option, HTTPS is only required for the main domain.
Preload
The term “HSTS preload” is used to describe the process of providing browsers with a predefined list of HSTS information for various websites from the manufacturer. This means that browsers know before they visit a protected website for the first time that they should only contact it via an encrypted connection. By activating the “preload” option, a provider of HSTS preload lists can check whether your domain can be placed on the preload list and whether you as the owner of this domain agree to this.
Your settings can be checked via the following website: https://hstspreload.org
This list is created by the Chromium Project and is used by most major browsers. These websites are not depending on whether HSTS response headers have been created to enforce the policy. Instead, the browser already knows that the domain name alone requires HTTPS and performs HSTS before any connection or communication is established.
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