QUESTION: What is the Validation Process for a High-Assurance SSL Certificate? ANSWER: Before the Certification Authority (CA) issues a High-Assurance SSL certificate, the applicant’s company or personal information undergoes a rigorous authentication procedure that verifies the existence and identity of the requesting entity. Only through thorough validation of submitted data can a customer rest assured that online businesses that display SSL certificates have been validated. Validation is an integral element of the CA’s SSL Certificate services. The validation process secures the highest level of trust. SSL Certificates are only issued to entities whose existence and contact information have been verified. Thus, a SSL Certificate guarantees that the entity to which the certificate is issued is who it claims to be, and that it has a legal right to use the domain from which it operates. The SSL certificate contains the name of an organization that can be confirmed as registered with a government authority or the name of the individual requesting the certificate, if the organization name cannot be authenticated (using a third-party data source). In the case of a small business, sole proprietorship, or individual that is not registered with a government authority, the CA instead includes the entity’s "doing business as" (DBA) name in the Certificate Information. Before issuing a SSL Certificate, the CA will verify: The entity requesting the certificate has access to the domain. The certificate is being issued to an organization that is currently registered with a government authority (if applicable). The individual requesting the certificate is associated with the entity named in the certificate (if applicable). If the CA is unable to authenticate the requesting entity, the certificate request is denied.