What are the different types of validation?

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF VALIDATION?

There are three different levels of SSL validation: Domain Validation (DV), Organisation Validation (OV), and Extended Validation (EV).

The different levels of validation provide a gauge of how trustworthy your business is. DV will only prove that your site is secure, not your business, as only the site is vetted. For greater customer confidence OV is a demonstration of your organisation’s validity and signals to your customers that your business is trustworthy. However, the greatest manifestation of customer confidence is EV which gives your website the famous green bar of trust in the URL bar.

The higher the validation the more expensive the certificate because more vetting is required.

Extended Validation SSL Certificates

With an EV SSL certificate the CA undertakes a comprehensive vetting process of the organisation. The various stages include verifying the legal and physical existence of the organisation, verifying that its identity matches official records, checking that the organisation has exclusive rights to use the domain specified in the certificate, and finally ensuring that the organisation has correctly authorised the issuance of the certificate.

Issuance typically takes between four and seven days.

EV is recommended for national and global brands looking to boost sales, reassure company stockholders and protect their customers from phishing attacks.

Organisation Validation SSL Certificates

With an OV SSL certificate some vetting of the organisation is carried out. This allows some company information to be displayed, thereby increasing trust between customers and the organisation. The CA also checks that the applicant has the right to use a specific domain name.

Vetting is a three step process for OV certificates. The existence of your company is verified, then your domain name, followed by a verification phone call. Issuance is typically within two days.

OV is recommended for ecommerce sites and anyone looking to prove the trustworthiness of their business and website.

Domain Validation SSL Certificates

DV vetting is by far the least comprehensive. The CA will check the right of the applicant to use a specific domain name but won’t check any company identity information, so no company information is displayed other than the encryption information.

The process is quick and simple; lasting no longer than 10 minutes.

DV is recommended for sole traders or companies whose customers know and trust their website.

Only the EV certificates create the green bar of trust. DV and OV certificates change the HTTP to HTTPS to let browsers know that the connection is secured by SSL, as well as display a symbol such as a padlock.

The difference between EV (left) and DV/OV (right):