World's No. 1 Certificate Authority Comodo Announces Upgrade Program for 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 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 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.