To earn trust, you need an easy, reliable way to show customers that not only are their transactions secure, but that you are a legitimate business and you are whom you say you are. To meet this need, security vendors and Internet browsers have combined forces to establish the Extended Validation (EV SSL) standard, the first fundamental change in the world’s secure e-commerce backbone in more than ten years.
Besides turning green, the browser also displays the name of the organization listed in the certificate (for example, your company). Implementation details vary somewhat from browser to browser.
The browser and the security vendor control the display to deter phishes and counterfeiters from hijacking your brand and your customers. Fraudsters are becoming adept at mimicking almost everything about a Website, but without the legitimate company’s EV SSL Certificate there is no way they can display its name on the address bar because the information shown there is outside of their control. In addition, they cannot obtain the legitimate company’s EV SSL Certificates because of the stringent authentication process.
Why is EV so comforting to consumers?
- Online customers can look at the visual display of the certificate owner’s name on the address bar to make sure the site is indeed authored by the intended source and not an imposter.
- CAs conduct additional levels of validation of organization’s legitimacy and authenticity before issuing them EV SSL certificates as described above to keep fraudsters from posing as legitimate Internet businesses.
- The CAs themselves must satisfy more rigorous criteria in order to be eligible to issue EV SSL Certificates. They must pass regular third-party Web Trust audits confirming that they meet the requirements set out in the standards of the CA/Browser Forum, a consortium of CAs and browser suppliers. This essentially eliminates chances of a feeble background check that sets an imposter loose with EV. With EV, customers do not have to question whether the organization was properly vetted or not.
- The color change to green appears to have a soothing psychological effect on consumers. Even customers who are not familiar with the “real” reasons why EV protects them better are more inclined to convert to sales and buy more per sale if they see a green bar.
For organizations with a high profile brand, using EV SSL Certificates has established to be an efficient security against phishing frauds. For any online dealing, using SSL Certificate with EV may have a big affect on the base line. EV SSL customers have experienced large increases in web site transactions.
