Plex, which is a popular service for streaming your own content over your WiFi network at home, has just gotten a bit more secure. Plex will not be streaming your content over HTTPS connections. This is made possible through a partnership with DigiCert. This partnership will provide users with security certificates in, what Plex and DigiCert is calling, the largest implementation of certificates ever. Each server receives its own individual security certificate automatically. Of course, you’ll need to have the “secure communications” option enabled on the users Plex installation. Then a green lock will appear next to your service. That is once it’s set up properly. This way, you can see that the connection is secure. Implementing security certificates means that others are not able to snoop on what you’re doing when you’re using Plex.
Oh, and the HTTPS option is free for all to use. That’s always a huge plus. After you upgrade your Plex server to the latest version, you’ll be able to securely stream movies, music, and other content to Android, Roku, Windows 8.1, and Windows Phone devices. The web app and home theater apps are also supported. However the iOS and Xbox One apps are still absent.
For those that haven’t used Plex before, it does allow for Chromecast streaming. So you can grab your favorite movie from another computer in the house and cast it from your smartphone to your TV, which is actually really cool. Although, that is part of the paid version. Plex is a great service for those that like to download their own movies, music and other media. You can simply turn an old computer into a Plex server and have content for the entire house, which is pretty cool.
This update to the Plex server is available today. So just head to your computer that is your Plex Server and open up the app and update the server. It should take just a few minutes, then you can enable the HTTPS feature for free and enjoy secure streaming on Plex.