November 25, 2008 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — IT security solutions provider Comodo (www.comodo.com) announced last Wednesday that it is now the second largest high-assurance certification authority, according to web analytics firm Netcraft (www.netcraft.com).
In Comodo’s most recent announcement, the company says it now controls more than 25 percent of the business-validated SSL certificate market, which is significant considering VeriSign holds nearly three-quarters of the market.
Comodo says business-validated SSL certificates are “commonly used by enterprises and e-merchants to provide both security and authentication to websites” and “are only issued to verified entities, to help ensure that the data is only being transmitted to real businesses.”
“Business validated certificates form the basis for consumer trust and security on the Internet,” says Melih Abdulhayoglu, chief security architect and CEO of Comodo. “While domain-only validated certificates have a role in securing data transmission for certain applications, they are really not appropriate for e-merchant or other applications where authentication is appropriate and necessary. Our marketplace success with business validated certificates reflects our corporate focus on delivering solutions that provide high levels of both trust and security.”
Netcraft says Comodo has also seen growth in the Extended Validation SSL certificate sector and is now the second largest provider of EV SSL certificates.
At the beginning of the year, Netcraft reported that Internet infrastructure services provider VeriSign retained “the lion’s share of the EV SSL certificate market, resting at 75.2 percent.” According to VeriSign’s website, Netcraft’s October 2008 Secure Server Survey still found VeriSign to be the “provider of choice for over 75 percent of the EV SSL market.”
EV SSL certificates work with high security web browsers, such as IE7, to turn the address bar green, assuring customers that the website’s identity has been confirmed, and that the website is not a copycat site trying to steal passwords or credit card numbers.
While EV SSL certificates have come to be recognized as a powerful tool to increase customer confidence with its conspicuous green indicator in the address bar, the market is also recognizing that EV SSL certificates can help improve the ROI of all sales operations by increasing online sales conversions that are now being completed by live phone operators, says Comodo.
Comodo says it secures and authenticates online transactions and communications for over 200,000 business customers and has over 10 million installations of desktop security products
