How to get X509Certificate from an arbitrary HTTPS URL?

Question

I'm using HttpWebRequest to pull a page from an arbitrary HTTPS URL. In addition to the actual page result, I want to get an X509Certificate2 instance for the remote server I just talked to. I'm sure the public certificate is on the computer somewhere because its chain had to be validated as part of the request. How can I get access to it?

Also, how can I make sure that the ciphersuite used in the SSL channel isn't simply the null ciphersuite? I need to make sure that decent encryption is actually occurring.

Answer 1

Oh! (duh)

HttpWebRequest.ServicePoint.Certificate

But this doesn't answer the ciphersuite part of the question, so that's still open if anyone can answer it. :)

Answer 2

See here: http://blog.jameshiggs.com/2008/05/01/c-how-to-accept-an-invalid-ssl-certificate-programmatically/