The Triple Check Approach
In a correctly run and operated CA, a team of trained RA Administrators manually check and verify every request for an SSL Certificate following an internationally recognised practice known as validations.
This means that two or more Validations Officers physically check your details and entitlement to get the Digi-SSL™ before it is issued to you. This rigorous checking procedure protects you from someone else stealing your online identity because the Digi-Sign Triple-Check Validations™ has a 100% track record of never issuing a Digital Certificate to the wrong party. Once this Digi-SSL™ is put on your website, visitors know your site is genuine.
For expedience and to save on cost, some CAs have automated the Validation process so that the CA can deliver its Certificates cheaply and without the need for manual Validations. The Certificates are delivered quickly, but an automated Validations process is flawed and can undermine the integrity and values of the SSL it issues.
Regardless of how you request an SSL Certificate, the RA should validate the request and then issue the Certificate to you. Automated Certificate issuance from a CA is only one part of the overall Certificate life cycle and what it saves in expedience, it looses in security. We only recommend using automated SSL Certificates for very specific, closed environments where Certificate integrity is easily controlled. For reputable and reliable providers, you should use vendors like VeriSign® or Digi-Sign to ensure your SSL Certificates are correctly validated and have internationally recognised integrity.
Improtant Note: Automated SSL Certificate delivery from a CA should not be confused with ‘automated life cycle management’ that occurs inside your organisation once you receive the SSL(s) from the CA.
The important and separated function of the Validation process is never expedited and can take the RA several days to complete. There are considerable variations in time between the validation for one SSL Certificate and another. So the specific time that the RA will take to validate an SSL request from the CA can result in unexpected delays that further frustrate the process of actually getting your SSL Certificate.