What is the difference between an Extended Validation SSL Certificate and a High Assurance SSL Certificate?
High Assurance SSL Certificates
Also called "Organization Validation SSL Certificates", High assurance SSL certificates offer added-value security to your end user. All SSL Certificates share the common standard that they secure the data, but a High Assurance SSL Certficicate requires that ‘little bit extra’ in order to be issued, because not only do they verify you own the site, they verify you own the business that owns the site.
Extended Validation SSL Certificates
With phishing schemes being taken to a new level as recently , the browser developers and SSL Certificate issuers got together to figure out what could be done about it, and thus, the Extended Validation SSL Certificate was born. You ‘ve seen them out in the wild by now. Likely your bank’s website has one, and PayPal has one as well , among many other entities. If you click on the link to PayPal above, and have a recent version of the browser you are using, you will see a green bar take over.
The main difference between Extended Validation (EV) and High Assurance (HA) SSL certificates is the vetting process that must be completed in order for the Certification Authority (CA) to issue a signed certificate to the requestor. Additionally, Web sites secured with EV SSL certificates will be displayed differently in the new generation of Web browsers, starting with Internet Explorer 7. New versions of Firefox and Opera browsers will soon follow. More comprehensive than the HA vetting process, the EV SSL vetting process validates the requestor’s domain control and verifies the requesting entity’s legal existence and identity. The process authenticates the following information pertaining to the certificate-requesting organization: • Legal existence: The Certification Authority (CA) must confirm with the Incorporating Agency in the requesting entity’s Jurisdiction of Incorporation that, as of the date the EV Certificate is issued, the organization named in the EV Certificate legall
