Deciding on a Certificate Authority

We can't tell you which certificate authority to choose. Your decision may be based on your past experiences, or on the experiences of your friends or colleagues, or purely on monetary factors. We will guide you through the process of getting a digital certificate from VeriSign and from Thawte, but you can choose a different CA.

Many other CAs exist. Click on the Security button on your Navigator toolbar or on the padlock icon at the bottom left of the screen, then click on Signers to see a list of certificate signers from whom your browser will accept certificates. You can also search the Web for CAs. The process of getting a certificate from a different CA will be similar to the processes described in this manual.

VeriSign Certificate Packages

VeriSign offers discounts on its certificate offerings to Red Hat customers. To take advantage of this offer, refer to http://www.verisign.com/offer/redhat/.

VeriSign and Thawte offer several tiers of server certificate options, as listed below. Check the appropriate website for completely up-to-date information.

Commerce Site Services

Commerce Site (with 40-bit encryption and Payflow Pro online payment management services)

Commerce Site Pro (with 128-bit encryption and Payflow Pro online payment management services)

Secure Site Services

Secure Site (with 40-bit encryption)

Secure Site Pro (with 128-bit encryption)

VeriSign's 128-bit SSL IDs enable the world's strongest encryption technology for Web servers on both domestic and export versions of Microsoft and Netscape browsers.

VeriSign's solutions each include an SSL server certificate (or ``Server ID'') plus other features, including:

The NetSure Protection Plan, an extended warranty program that protects VeriSign customers against up to $250,000 of economic loss resulting from the theft, corruption, impersonation, or loss of use of a certificate.
The VeriSign Secure Site Seal, allowing visitors to check your Server ID's information and status in real time.
Commerce Site Services and Secure Site Services also include Keynote Site Performance Measurement Services, Netcraft E-Commerce Security Analysis, and Qualys' network scanning service to determine your site's vulnerabilities.
Training Discounts toward the VeriSign course ``Building Secure Web Servers.''
An audited authentication process, which ensures that VeriSign verifies the identity of every site equipped with a Server ID.

For more information about VeriSign's Server ID solutions, see http://www.verisign.com/server/index.html. For more information about Thawte SSL Server Certificates, see http://www.thawte.com/certs/server/contents.html.