SSL Certificate
An SSL certificate (and its corresponding key) is required for secure web transactions. For the certificate to be unquestioned by the browser, it must be signed by a certificate authority that is known to the browser. oneIgloo is a Thawte reseller. Thawte is a very well-known and trusted certificate authority.
Secure transactions for oneIgloo are done using SSL and a Thawte certificate.
There are several types of certificates. One consideration which is especially important from a web hosting point-of-view is whether or not SSL-protected subdomains will be required. A subdomain has a web address like http://subdomain.domain.com, where the main address might be http://www.domain.com. Thawte (among others) offer wildcard SSL certificates.
Please contact oneigloo if you need help in deciding what type of certificate would be best for your needs.
Basic Outline of the Process
To obtain a certificate signed by Thawte, the following steps are taken:
- oneIgloo generates a CSR (Certifcate Signing Requrest) and a private key.
- oneIgloo submits the CSR to Thawte. Thawte verifies that:
- The company name is legally registered. If Thawte is unable to locate proof via approved online sources, they will ask for legal documentation.
- The domain registrant matches the company name in the certificate registration. If the domain is registered to another organization other than the organization enrolling for the certificate, a DAL (Domain Authorization Letter) will be sent to the corporate and technical contact. The DAL will need to be signed by the domain registrant and faxed back to Thawte.
- The telephone number of the corporate contact through a third party. If Thawte is unable to locate a third party listing, they will request that a telephone bill in the enrolling company's name or a notarized form letter be faxed to them.
- oneIgloo installs the signed SSL certificate and the private key onto the web server.