SSL Certificate Local installation

In certain installations, it may be required to use the HTTPS protocol which safely encrypts data between the web browser and the IP camera (or the recorder). Nowadays, almost all security IP cameras and NVRs support the SSL implementation for accessing the devices.

In this guide, we will show how to set up the HTTPS certificate and access your camera in a secure manner.
 

FIle types
There are several file types associated with SSL:

CRT file is the actual certificate

PEM file is used to re request again

PFX file is a password protected file that may contain the above files within.

Many devices may require the direct CRT file. If you only have the PFX file, you may need to consult your certificate provider on how to extract the CRT.
 

Computer Installation
If you don’t install the certificate on your computer (from where you access your camera or CCTV system), then the browser will send out alerts that the device connection is unsecure. Below are the steps on how to easily install this certificate.

Browse to the folder or the directory when you saved the certificate (Such as the Desktop folder, for example)

When double-clicking the certificate file, it will automatically open up the Certificate details, click “Install Certificate…” to import it.

On the next window, you’ll see the “Certificate Import Wizard”, choose the local machine if multiple users use the computer. If the computer is only ever used by one person then select ‘Current User’. Click Next to start the import procedure.

Then click the “Place all certificates in the following store” selection, after that select “Trusted Root Certification Authorities” and click OK to finish importing your HTTPS certificate.

Once done, you should receive a success message. If not, there is something wrong with your Windows installation, you may need to contact the network administrator (or Microsoft) to figure out what’s wrong.
 

Upload to Device
If you have an existing SSL Certificate, you can upload it to your device (camera, recorder, etc...). This is device specific, but essentially involves enabling HTTPS and choosing to upload an existing SSL Certificate. There are also often ways of generating certificates through the device. (Check the specific device category for specifics on installing SSL certificates)

Check to see if HTTP is working
After the camera or recorder has rebooted, we need to make sure the HTTPS is in fact properly working. You need to access the camera using the IP address (or domain name) for which the certificate was created in the previous steps.

Open up the Internet Explorer and type the IP address on the URL bar. For example, start with https:// followed by the IP address, let’s say: https://82.11.XXX.XXX.
You may get a warning from the browser the first time you access the device using the https protocol. Depending on the browser, all you have to do is to mark the website as safe and it will not show anymore.

Another error that you may see is the message “TLS out of date”, simply refresh the page and the error will be cleared. Additionally, the data from the device may take longer to load up since the data is being encrypted and decrypted.

And these are all the steps that you need to follow in order to have the HTTPS protocol implemented in your device. From now on, all the communications and the data transferred from and to the device via the web browser will be secure.