The Difference between a Domain Validated (DV), Organisation Validated (OV) and Extended Validated (EV) SSL Certificate
Once upon a time anyone (business owner, or individual) could own a website, and visitors did not question the legitimacy of it. These days, cyber criminals are mimicking well-known websites, or using websites as the base from which to launch phishing attacks. And because trust is currency, the need to follow website cyber security protocols to ascertain a site’s trustworthiness is unnegotiable.
One way in which to do the above is to install a SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Certificate on a website.
What is a SSL Certificate?
A SSL is authentication given to a website domain by a Certificate Authority (CA) after verifying some of the domain owner’s information.
In general, the purpose of such a certificate is to:
- Ensure a secure connection – as all communication between visitors and businesses are encrypted via a SSL,
- Verify ownership, and
- Turn an ‘http’ in the url to an ‘https’, or add a padlock icon in the url window. This serves as a visual confirmation to visitors that your website has been verified and encrypted.
Why are there more than one type of SSL Certificate?
There are three different types of SSL Certificates namely a Domain Validated (DV) SSL, Organisation Validated (OV) SSL and an Extended Validated (EV) SSL. Each of these SSLs are exactly the same when it comes to encryption. However, the level of validation differs between each of them. Your choice will greatly depend on the level of identity assurance your website would need from its visitors.
- DV SSL – This is a basic SSL that only checks whether the applicant has the right to the specific domain name, making it suitable for basic websites.
- OV SSL – This is a more superior choice of SSL that requires a business to share some company documents and verifies them, making it suitable for online stores.
- EV SSL – This is a next-level SSL that requires a whole lot of company information i.e. location and whether it is operational or not. With this SSL the company name is also displayed in the URL offering customers complete peace of mind. An EV SSL is a good choice for a website that needs high levels of trust like large eCommerce websites, banks etc.
At Domains.co.za, we offer our customers only the best in authorisation with Certum, Comodo and RapidSSL certificates for DV, TrueBusinessID for OV, TrueBusinessID +EV and Wildcard SSLs for more than one domain. All our DV SSL certificates include $10 000 warranties, instant installation, free site seals and 256-bit encryption. Our OV and EV SSLs offer between $1.25-million and $1.5-million Netsure warranties as well as 256-bit encryption.
