SSL Certificates Support

The SSL protocol is the web standard for encrypting communications between users and SSL e-commerce sites. Data sent via a SSL connection is protected by encryption, a mechanism that prevents eavesdropping and tampering with any transmitted data. SSL provides businesses and consumers with the confidence that private data sent to a web site, such as credit card numbers, are kept confidential. SSL Certificates are required to initialize an SSL session.

Customers know when they have an SSL session when their browser displays the little gold padlock and the address bar begins with a https rather than http. SSL Certificates can be used on web servers for internet security and mail servers such as IMAP, POP3 and SMTP for mail collection / sending security.

128 and 256 Bit SSL Certificates are usually used to protect information whilst it is being entered into an online form, securing e-mail, servers and ftp.

Wildcard certificates can be used to secure multiple sub domains on a single domain name. e.g. it secures shop.example.com, ssl.example.com, admin.example.com etc.

Please use *.example.com as common name with your Certificate Signing Request (CSR).

An SSL Certificate is issued to a fully qualified domain name (FQDN). This means that an SSL Certificate issued to “secure.example.com” cannot be used on different sub domains, such as “www.example.com”.

To get around this restriction we have Wildcard SSL Certificates. Wildcard SSL Certificates allow you to secure multiple sub domains on the same domain name, thereby saving you time and money, and of course you do not need to manage multiple SSL Certificates on the same server.

Most customers secure “ssl.example.com” and use wildcard SSL Certificates if their SSL requirements change.

Internal host names are not longer allowed in certificates that are issued by trusted Certificate Authorities like Comodo, GeoTrust, thawte, Symantec and others. Certificate Authorities made a decision to deprecate the usage of reserved IP addresses and internal names for certificates, effective November 1st 2015. Certificates that have already been issued with an expiry date later than 01/Nov/2015 have to be revoked.

If you have ordered a Multi-Domain (UCC / SAN) SSL certificate that includes an internal domain name you may delete the internal host name(s) from the list of SAN and re-issue the certificate via the client portal.

More info can also be found in our blog: Learn more…

Domain Validated SSL Certificates

The Certificate Authority will send an email to approve the certificate request, either to the Administrative Contact listed in the WHOIS database for the domain name requested. You can also choose a generic email address during the order process like admin@example.com, administrator@example.com, postmaster@example.com, hostmaster@example.com or webmaster@example.com

After the certificate request has been approved by the domain contact, the certificate will be issued instantly.

Organization Validated SSL Certificates

The Certificate Authority will send an email to approve the certificate request, either to the Administrative Contact listed in the WHOIS database for the domain name requested. You can also choose a generic email address during the order process like admin@example.com, administrator@example.com, postmaster@example.com, hostmaster@example.com or webmaster@example.com

After the certificate request has been approved by the domain contact, you will have to send supporting business documents of the company to the Certificate Authority by postal mail, fax or email (PDF attachments). If the order is for a commercial entity you will need to send the following documents: Certificate of Incorporation, Business License, DUNS number (if applicable). If the Certificate Authority is unable to verify your documents, a Professional Opinion Letter from a lawyer or accountant may be needed.

It may take up to 10 business days until your certificate is issued.

SSL Certificates with Extended Validation (EV)

The Certificate Authority will send an email to approve the certificate request, either to the Administrative Contact listed in the WHOIS database for the domain name requested. You can also choose a generic email address during the order process like admin@example.com, administrator@example.com, postmaster@example.com, hostmaster@example.com or webmaster@example.com

After the certificate request has been approved by the domain contact, you will have to send supporting business documents of the company to the Certificate Authority by mail, fax or email (PDF attachments).

The Certificate Authority must be able to confirm all of the following organizational registration requirements:
Official government agency records must include:

• The organization’s registration number.
• The organization’s date of registration/incorporation.
• The organization’s registered address (or the address of the organization’s registered agent).

A non-government data source (such as Dun & Bradstreet) must include the organization’s place of business address if it is not included in the Government agency records

If the organization has been registered for less than three years, the Certificate Authority must verify operational existence through one of the following means:

• Through a non-government data source (such as Dun & Bradstreet) – or-
• By verifying the organization has an active demand deposit account (such as a checking account) with a regulated financial institution through a Lawyer’s Opinion Letter or directly with the financial institution.

If the Certificate Authority is unable to verify your documents and/or telephone number, a Professional Opinion Letter from a lawyer or accountant may be needed.

It may take up to 10 business days until your certificate is issued.

Domain Validated certificates are usually issued within a few minutes.

As documentation has to be provided for Business Organization and Extended Validated certificates it may take 5-10 business days until your certificate is issued by the Certificate Authority.

A renewal of an existing certificate is similar to a new order:

* Kindly place your order online via our website
* Please submit a CSR for your host name
* After the validation process has been completed, a new certificate will be issued (with the new expiry date)
* Install this new certificate on your device to secure your application and server

The Certificate Authority will add up to 30 days to the expiry date of the new certificate.
You may renew your certificate early without losing any remaining days.

Our SSL Certificates are compatible with IE 5.01+, Netscape 4.7+, Mozilla 1+, AOL 5+, Firefox, Safari and many newer Windows, Macintosh and Android based browsers. All certificates listed are trusted by over 99% of the popular browsers.

Browser ubiquity is the term used in the industry to describe the estimated percentage of internet users that will inherently trust an SSL Certificate. The lower the browser ubiquity, the less people will trust your certificate – clearly, if you are operating a commercial site you require as many people as possible to trust your SSL Certificate. As a general rule, any SSL Certificate with over 95% browser ubiquity is acceptable for a commercial site.

Ubiquity is however not the only consideration in deciding whether one SSL Certificate is better than another. Many companies running high transaction volume web sites need to maximize customer confidence and therefore buy certificates from well known, long time security vendors and mostly use the major players.