Which certificate authority

So let us start by understanding what certificate authority is. What is a certificate authority? The answer is certificate authority or certification authorities refer to a trusted third-party entity primarily concerned with verifying and validating websites, email addresses, entities and individual persons and binding them to cryptographic keys by issuing digital certificates.

Thus, a digital certificate ensures data integrity and encryption and identity validation. As you can see, certificate authorities play a pivotal role in digital security. After a thorough vetting system, when you finally receive your passport, you can be assured of smooth and secure international transit without worrying about anyone questioning your identity. This digital certificate serves the same purpose as a passport in the physical world. To understand the workings of a CA in detail, read on.

Certificate Authorities are the cogs in the wheel of an umbrella term called Public Key Infrastructure technology, commonly abbreviated as PKI. The primary reason why certificate authorities exist is to play the verification role. I will explain to you how this works.

First, a website will approach a certificate authority to request a digital certificate. The certificate authority does not give out the certificate immediately. There are three validation levels, as explained below;. With domain validation, the CA will only need to establish whether the requestor is the legitimate owner of the website or domain.

This validation level usually takes little time. Moreover, it is the bare minimum level of validation that one will have to go through. Apart from confirming the identity and legitimacy of the requestor, the certificate authority goes a notch higher to perform basic business validation.

The organization validation process usually involves a human element. The CA will do thorough research, perusing third-party records sources to ensure that certificate requestors are what they say.

Extended validation is the top validation level. Because of the technicalities involved, the requestor takes quite some time to receive the certificate under this validation level. The certificates will take up to five days before they are issued. In addition, the CA will take extensive research into an organization to ensure that the organization is indeed legitimate. Devices and browsers trust several Certificate Authorities. One factor to be considered is the number of years in operation.

We will provide an overview of some of the trusted ones here. The brand offers SSL certificates with the latest technology and supports bit public key encryption bit and bit are available too. CAs validate each type of certificate to a different level of user trust, with EV being the highest level of assurance available.

The difference between OV and EV is that a CA takes additional steps to validate the certificate requester, giving end users even more confidence that a website is legitimate.

Read more about how to choose the right type of certificate for your site in another blog post. While CAs focus mainly on TLS certificates, they also issue a variety of digital certificates, including:. The process is the same regardless of the type of TLS certificate you order; however, you will need to provide additional fields of information for OV and EV certificates.

DigiCert can complete your validation within less than a day, to get you a TLS certificate within hours, not days. When choosing a certificate authority, you should understand several considerations like trust, customer service, brand recognition, cost and available tools.

Trusted CAs submit to regular audits by independent parties, follow industry guidelines and maintain best practices to secure their infrastructure.

Additionally, many CAs are heavily involved in industry groups and developing industry standards, and are thought leaders in their space, providing you with the resources you need. Finally, certain platforms have a list of trusted certificate authorities for you to use. Read more on how to choose the right certificate authority in another blog post. The checks relate to the class and type of certificate being applied for.

For example, a domain validated SSL Certificate will have verified the ownership of the domain to be included within the Certificate, whereas an Extended Validation SSL will include additional information on the company, verified by the CA through many company checks. Browsers and devices trust a CA by accepting the Root Certificate into its root store — essentially a database of approved CAs that come pre-installed with the browser or device. Windows operates a root store, as does Apple, Mozilla for its Firefox browser and typically each mobile carrier also operates its own root store.

The CA receives certificate requests, validates the applications, issues the certificates, and publishes the ongoing validity status of issued certificates so anyone relying on the certificate has a good idea that the certificate is still valid. Subscribe to SSL. What is SSL? About SSL. Facebook-f Twitter Youtube Github. All rights reserved.

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