Understanding Extended Validation SSL Certificates

It's hard to know who you can trust on the Internet. Is that really my bank's website I'm viewing through my browser? Is there a real business behind that site with the rock-bottom prices? How do I know I'm looking at the right website? Internet Explorer 7 supports the new Extended Validation SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificates to help users better answer these questions and see identity information for websites.

In the past, website security focused on protecting information in transit-helping to keep information safe from prying eyes. While it protected your information from being accessed by 3rd parties, the solution didn't give you any information about the owner of the website. Looking for that gold padlock icon is important, but without the identity information you might end up sending your personal information to the wrong website.

Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificates are the result of an industry-wide effort to help increase identity awareness and provide consumers with a higher level of trust while online. These new certificates require businesses to complete a thorough documentation process and verify current business licensing and incorporation paperwork, in addition to verifying that the entity named in the EV certificate has authorized the issuance of the EV certificate. Internet Explorer 7 recognizes EV certificates for businesses that have completed this process, and visually represents them by colouring the Address Bar in green (see figure 1).

Figure 1

In addition to changing the Address Bar shading, EV certificates display details about the business, such as location for incorporation and country. Figure 2 provides an example showing the financial institution (Woodgrove Bank) and the country ( US ).

Figure 2

If you were a customer of Woodgrove Bank, seeing the green Address Bar and the owner and country information would help you verify the identity of the website to determine it really is your bank. Just like current website security solutions in the past, your information remains protected from outsiders. Now you have the added benefit of being able to identify the website and make sure it's the one you want before you conduct your personal business.