max-lt

How to setup your own CA with OpenSSL

For educational reasons I've decided to create my own CA. Here is what I learned.

First things first

Lets get some context first.

max-lt

Not all random values are created equal - for security-related code, you need a specific kind of random value.

A summary of this article, if you don't want to read the entire thing:

• Don't use Math.random(). There are extremely few cases where Math.random() is the right answer. Don't use it, unless you've read this entire article, and determined that it's necessary for your case.
• Don't use crypto.getRandomBytes directly. While it's a CSPRNG, it's easy to bias the result when 'transforming' it, such that the output becomes more predictable.
• If you want to generate random tokens or API keys: Use uuid, specifically the uuid.v4() method. Avoid node-uuid - it's not the same package, and doesn't produce reliably secure random values.
• If you want to generate random numbers in a range: Use random-number-csprng.

You should seriously consider reading the entire article, though - it's