Knowledge base

Extended validation (EV) SSL certificates can only be granted to organisations, businesses and companies registered on the commercial register or with the chamber of commerce. This obligation does not apply to Sectigo and Let's Encrypt DV certificates.

Compare the SSL certificates available

EV SSL certificate: validation procedure

It can take up to 24 hours to obtain an EV SSL certificate and requires you to carry out certain operations. From 19 August 2020, this procedure will have to be repeated every 12 months, regardless of the duration of the subscription chosen for the EV certificate. Find out more

1. Verification of the details of the business

The data that will be added to the certificate must first be verified by an independent source:

• the legal or business name
• the legal status
• the address
• the postcode
• the region / canton / department
• the country / the country code

Warning:

• the name of the business must correspond exactly to the one registered on the commercial register or with the chamber of commerce. The order can only be processed if the name provided is registered and correctly written.
• only the registered legal name or brand name followed by the legal name in brackets is authorised (e.g.: Brand name [Legal name]). For bodies without a legal name, all trade names can be used.
• it is prohibited to use a postal address.

In the light of the above, a new request with correct data in the CSR is sometimes necessary, and we may also need your approval to modify information provided when ordering.

2. Verification of data in the Whois directory

The Whois directory displays information concerning the owner of a domain name. This information must correspond to the information provided when ordering the EV SSL certificate.

To update the information concerning a domain in the Whois:

• if your domain is managed by Infomaniak, please follow this guide
• if your domain is not managed by Infomaniak, please contact your host/registrar

3. EV certificate form and contract

After ordering an EV certificate, the company contact person designated when placing the order will receive a message from the Sectigo certification body with the following documents:

• the certificate request form
• the certificate contract

These documents are pre-completed and the contact person must validate them on line.

4. Verification of the professional telephone

The company contact designated when ordering is contacted by Sectigo by telephone on the number registered with the commercial registry or chamber of commerce. The call will be placed from the Netherlands (+31 88 775 77 77).

Each request for a certificate is validated by telephone, including renewals and re-issues of multi-domain certificates.

5. Verification of the domain (external sites only)

This step verifies that you have the admin rights for the domain for which the certificate is requested.

Each domain or subdomain must be individually approved through one of the methods described in this guide.

Find out more

• Differences between an EV, DV and Let's Encrypt SSL certificate
• Frequent errors following the activation of an SSL certificate
• Discover the SSL certificates offered by Infomaniak

You can benefit from Infomaniak's advantageous rates for your SSL certificates while managing your sites through another host. However, the installation of your certificate will not be automatic:

• You must manually export the CSR configuration file from your host and enter it when ordering your certificate from Infomaniak.

• You must validate the domains included in the certificate using one of the following methods:
  • Enter a validation code received at one of the following email addresses:
    • admin@domain-to-confirm.tld
    • administrator@domain-to-confirm.tld
    • hostmaster@domain-to-confirm.tld
    • postmaster@domain-to-confirm.tld
    • webmaster@domain-to-confirm.tld
  • Create a unique CNAME record in the DNS of the domains.
  • txt validation file to be loaded via FTP on your site.

This guide explains the main differences between EV and DV certificates.

EV SSL certificates: for companies

The Sectigo EV SSL certificate can only be issued to companies registered on the commercial register or with the chamber of commerce. It ensures your clients the highest level of trust and offers unique advantages in addition to including the benefits of a DV certificate:

• Your company name in the navigation bar (find out more)
• Padlock in the navigation bar
• Dynamic secure site seal
• Validation of your domain name
• Manual authentication of the details and identity of your company
• Guarantee of up to $1750,000.00 for end users
• Support 7/7

Activation of an EV SSL certificate can take up to 24 hours and requires certain actions on your part.

DV SSL certificates: for companies and individuals

The Sectigo DV certificate is open to both individuals and companies. It does not include some of the advantages mentioned above, but it does offer extra benefits compared to free Let's Encrypt SSL certificates:

• Dynamic secure site seal
• Validation of your domain name
• Guarantee of up to $10000.00 for end users
• Support 7/7

DV SSL certificates are activated immediately.

And Let's Encrypt certificates?

A free Let's Encrypt certificate guarantees the same level of encryption as an EV or DV certificate. However, Let's Encrypt certificates do not offer the following benefits:

• Manual authentication of the details and authenticity of your company (EV)
• Guarantee for end users in the event of fraud (EV/DV)
• Support in the event of questions

In short, Let's Encrypt certificates ensure encryption of communications between your users and your site, but do offer cybernauts the guarantee that they are on a legitimate site the identity of which has been authenticated by a certification body.

The guarantee provided with an EV or DV SSL certificate protects your users against incidents linked to any validation errors by Sectigo, the certification body that delivers SSL certificates and validates your personal data.

The guarantee is therefore applicable if the certification body does not correctly validate the information contained in the digital certificate and if this failure leads to a financial loss for the end user in the context of a fraudulent credit card transaction.

Thank you for choosing Infomaniak to secure your sites with an EV or DV SSL certificate.

An SSL certificate secures all the exchanges between your server and your visitors, displays a padlock and adds https to your site. If you have a company registered on the commercial register or with the chamber of commerce, you can display your brand name or the name of your organisation in the browser address bar with an EV SSL certificate.

Which SSL certificate to choose?

• How to know if a site is protected by an SSL certificate.
• What are the conditions to obtain an EV SSL certificate?
• What are the differences between EV and DV certificates?
• Is it necessary to modify your site before or after activating an SSL certificate?
  
• Can I order an SSL certificate from Infomaniak if my site is hosted elsewhere?

What do you want to do?

• Correcting errors after activating an SSL certificate
• Installing a free Let's Encrypt SSL certificate on a site
• Uninstalling a Let's Encrypt certificate
• Updating a Let's Encrypt certificate (e.g., after adding/deleting aliases)
• Generating a CSR certificate for all the subdomains of a domain (wildcard)

Also of interest...

• What exactly is covered under the guarantee of a Sectigo SSL certificate?

I did not find an answer to my question

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This guide explains how to add a dynamic trust seal to a secure site with a Sectigo SSL certificate.

The trust seal is composed of an image and an HTML code. This latter only functions if a Sectigo certificate is installed on the site and generates an interactive logo that displays the data of the certificate.

1. Save one of the images below

Click the image to be saved with the right button of the mouse and then click Save the image under...

Small

Medium

Large

2. Download the image to your site

Upload the image to your web server (via FTP or your CMS) and note the URL login towards this image for the next stage (e.g., https://your-site.com/wp-content/uploads/sectigo.png).

3. Integrate this code on the page where the seal is to be displayed

Insert the following code within the <head></head> tags of your page:

Insert the following code within the <body></body> tags in the location where the seal is to be displayed:

Warning:

• do not forget to adapt the image path according to the URL noted during stage 2 above.
• CL1 corresponds to a DV SSL certificate. Replace CL1 with SC5 for an EV-type certificate.

This guide details the new rules of validity for EV and DV SSL certificates that will apply from 1 September 2020.

Modification of the duration of certificate validity 

During the last session of the CA/B Forum, which brings together the major players on the Web (Safari, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, etc.), the decision was taken to set the maximum period for the validity of SSL certificates at 397 days. This change aims to reduce the risk of certificate hacking and increase the level of certificate security. Find out more

What are the impacts for Infomaniak customers?

Let's Encrypt certificates are not concerned by this modification. Infomaniak takes care of everything.

For certificates issued before 19 August 2020

Sectigo EV and DV certificates issued before 19 August 2020 remain valid, regardless of their duration.

For certificates issued after 19 August 2020

• Sectigo DV SSL certificates with a duration over 1 year will be automatically renewed by Infomaniak. It is necessary to reinstall the certificate on your site if it is not managed by Infomaniak.
• Sectigo EV SSL certificates will have to be validated every year, regardless of the duration of the subscription chosen. It will be necessary to reinstall the certificate on your site if it is not managed by Infomaniak.

Find out more

• Getting started guide: EV, DV SSL certificates (Let's Encrypt, Sectigo)
• What are the differences between EV and DV certificates
• Compare Infomaniak's SSL certificates

This guide explains how to add two different EV or DV SSL certificates to the same site. It is not possible to install two SSL certificates on the same site. To be able to install two different certificates on the same site, you need to create two identical sites:

Remove the alias domain

1. Log in to Manager (manager.infomaniak.com)
2. Go to Web Hosting
3. If necessary, click on web hosting / the domain name in question
4. In the Website section at the bottom of the page, click on the site in question
5. Under Domains at the bottom of the page, click on theicon on the right of the domain to be removed and select Release
6. Confirm the deletion of the alias (without deleting the corresponding entries in the DNS zone)

Creating a second site

1. Log in to Manager (manager.infomaniak.com)
2. Go to Web Hosting
3. If necessary, click on web hosting / the domain name in question
4. In the websites box, click the Add button
5. Choose between the use of a domain name or a subdomain
6. Enter the domain or subdomain name
7. Click on Advanced options
8. Check the Define the location manually box
9. Select the same location as the main site
10. Choose the same PHP version as the main site
11. Click Confirm

Install the SSL certificate

Once the second site has been created and the DNS propagation has finished (this can take between 24 and 48 hours after creating the site), you will be able to install the SSL certificate.

1. Log in to Manager (manager.infomaniak.com)
2. Go to Web Hosting
3. Click on web hosting / name of the domain in question
4. In the websites box, click on the domain in question
5. In the Quick actions box, click on Install an SSL certificate
6. Select the certificate to install or import your SSL certificate if bought from another provider.
7. Click on Next and let the installation finish

Find out more

• Quickstart guide: EV, DV SSL certificates (Let's Encrypt, Sectigo)
• Common errors linked to SSL certificates
• Force httpS (SSL) in the URL displayed in the browser's address bar

This guide explains how to export an SSL certificate in the form of a .zip archive containing the .key and .crt files. We recommend that you store this certificate and your personal key in a secure location, as the latter could provide access to your encrypted data.

Export an SSL certificate

1. Open the Manager (manager.infomaniak.com)
2. Go to Web hosting
3. Click on the hosting / domain name concerned
4. In the left-hand side panel, click on My websites then SSL certificates
5. Click on the website which has a certificate
6. Click on Manage
7. Select Export the certificate and follow the instructions