What is Extended Validation SSL?
The explosive growth in phishing attacks and other fraudulent web activity has eroded consumer confidence in doing business online. According to Gartner, nearly $2 billion in e-commerce sales were lost in 2006 due to security concerns by consumers.1 Extended Validation (EV) is the Internet security industrys answer to this problem. It is a new, more stringent digital certificate standard for web site identity authentication. EV SSL Certificates combine the encryption power of traditional SSL Certificates with a new strict vetting process for establishing the true identity of a web site. New high-security browsers display EV SSL Certificates to end users in a highly visible manner. A recent study by Tec-Ed found that 100% of users expected to notice when sites display the distinctive interface features of EV.
Extended Validation SSL Certificates give high-security Web browsers information to clearly identify a Web site’s organizational identity. For example, if you use Microsoft® Internet Explorer 7 to go to a Web site secured with an SSL Certificate that meets the Extended Validation Standard, IE7 will cause the URL address bar to turn green. A display next to the green bar will toggle between the organization name listed in the certificate and the Certificate Authority (VeriSign, for example). Firefox 3 also supports Extended Validation SSL. Other browsers are expected to offer Extended Validation visibility in upcoming releases. Older browsers will display Extended Validation SSL Certificates with the same security symbols as existing SSL Certificates.
Extended Validation SSL Certificates give high security Web browsers information to clearly identify a Web site’s organizational identity. For example, if you use Microsoft® Internet Explorer 7 to go to a Web site secured with an SSL Certificate that meets the Extended Validation Standard, IE7 will cause the URL address bar to turn green. A display next to the green bar will toggle between the organization name listed in the certificate and the Certificate Authority (VeriSign, for example). Firefox and Opera have announced their intention to support Extended Validation SSL in upcoming releases. Older browsers will display Extended Validation SSL Certificates with the same security symbols as existing SSL Certificates.
