World's No. 1 Certificate Authority Comodo Announces Upgrade Program for Symantec, Thawte and GeoTrust Certificates

CLIFTON, N.J., July 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Comodo, a global innovator and developer of cybersecurity solutions and the world's No. 1 certificate authority, today announced a competitive upgrade program exclusively for owners of Symantec, Thawte and GeoTrust digital certificates seeking greater relations and longer life for their extended validation (EV) certificates.

Under the program, Comodo and its partners will provide an equivalent certificate that includes one year free for all existing Symantec, Thawte and GeoTrust certificates.

The offer targets owners of Symantec-issued digital certificates who want an upgrade. Recent news reports  have discussed issues with respect to Symantec certificates and Google Chrome browser.  When visitors to a site are using Google Chrome, the industry-leading browser, based on Google's proposals, Symantec-issued certificates will have a shorter life and not have the green trust padlock indicator. These proposals have the potential to cost businesses more for the shorter life cycle certificates, and potentially reduce traffic and revenue if consumer and partner use of the site declines.

One proposal under consideration is for Chrome to stop recognizing the EV status of all certificates issued by Symantec-owned certificate authorities for at least one year, and to limit the maximum life of Symantec certificates to nine months, according to posts by the Google development team in online forums. Symantec's response to the proposal and a public discussion may be found here.

Since Google Chrome has a majority of the browser market, if and when Google delivers on its intentions, enterprises with Symantec certificates would not have the benefit of showing the organization's name in green for at least one year, a user-friendly security feature that is available in Chrome for EV certificates. In addition, certificates may have to be rotated more frequently, since the maximum accepted validity period will be reduced to nine months or less.

Enterprise IT teams owning Symantec, Thawte and GeoTrust certificates, or using the Symantec MPKI platform, can contact [email protected] or call 1-855-478-7740 to get more information on the upgrade program.

Companies that have previously purchased a Symantec certificate from a webhost or domain name registrar should contact their current provider, who may be able to offer a replacement Comodo certificate. Additionally, Comodo has created an online website certificate assessment tool to evaluate if a website is affected and explore options.

More information about Comodo's certificate issuance and management services is available online.

Resources
Comodo blog: "Google Chrome: 'Intent to Deprecate and Remove: Trust in existing Symantec-issued Certificates'" 
Online Domain Checking Tool for At-risk Symantec Certificates 
Comodo Certificates Website

About Comodo 
The Comodo organization is a global innovator of cybersecurity solutions, protecting critical information across the digital landscape. Building on its unique position as the world's largest certificate authority, Comodo authenticates, validates and secures networks and infrastructures from individuals to mid-sized companies to the world's largest enterprises. Comodo provides complete end-to-end security solutions across the boundary, internal network and endpoint with innovative technologies solving the most advanced malware threats, both known and unknown. With US headquarters in Clifton, New Jersey, the Comodo organization has offices in Silicon Valley, China, India, the Philippines, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit comodo.com.

Comodo and the Comodo brand are trademarks of the Comodo Group Inc. or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. The current list of Comodo trademarks and patents is available at comodo.com/repository.

Keep up to date with the latest Comodo News from the Comodo blog at https://blog.comodo.com/ and on Twitter @ComodoNews.

Connect with Comodo on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/comodo.

For more information, media and analysts may contact: 
Deb Montner
Montner Tech PR
[email protected] 
203-226-9290

SOURCE Comodo