Types of Certificate

Digi-Sign offers three types of digital certificate and both types of CA. With exception of Digi-Code™, these are offered in three Classes depending on your requirements.

The three types of digital certificate are:

And there are several Classes for each of these certificates, e.g. Xn, Xs, Xp, Xe, Xg, etc. The three standard Classes are the Xs, Xp and Xg, where Xs is the basic Class and offers no real flexibility to the user and Xg is at the other end of the spectrum and is the most flexible.

The following sub sections detail the different Types of certificate and the correct Class depending on your requirement.

Digi-SSLs™ are Secure Socket Layer [SSL] certificates and are used for securing and authenticating the following:

• web server
• mail server
• LDAP directory server
• database server

Digi-SSLs™ are the most commonplace digital certificate in use today. Web sites and other servers use Digi-SSLs™ in their thousands each year. If your requirement is predominantly for SSL and SSL Management, we recommend the Digi-SSL™ Service.

Digi-SSL™ provides you with two functions:

• Website authentication
• Data encryption

Every application for any class of Digi-SSL™ is subjected to the Triple-Check Validations procedure. 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.

The same Digi-SSL™ that authenticates your site to visitors can also be used for encrypting data and it is here that the Xp/Xg and Xs difference occurs. The main difference between Xp/Xg & Xs is that the Digi-SSL™ Xs is for low/no value transactions and Xp/Xg is for corporate users and commercial websites.

The Digi-Sign Certificate Practice Statement [CPS] v3.7, Sub section 2.4.1.a and 5.32.1 both state that the maximum warranty associated with a Digi-SSL™ Xs certificate is €0.01. So if your information is worth more than €0.01 and you require warranty protection, you should only use the Xs certificate to authenticate your website. This does not mean you can’t use the Xs for encrypting data, it only means that in the event of a fault in the Digi-SSL™, you have no warranty.

The maximum warranty associated with the Digi-SSL™ Xp or Xg certificate is €10,000. The CPS v3.7, Sub section 2.4.1.b and 5.32.2, both state clearly that this is for corporate or professional use and carries a warranty in the event of failure.

Other Differences between Xp/Xs & Xg would be that:

• Xp/Xg certificates are replaced free of charge any time during their life cycle. Xs are not.
• Xp/Xg certificates provide telephone support. Xs do not.
• Xp/Xg are issued with the secure Digi-Seal™ for displaying on your website. Xs are not.

Digi-SSL™ Xg certificates are only supplied in specific cases where multiple hosting specifications require flexible naming within the Digi-SSL™. This specialist configuration can include multiple Common Names within the same certificate, wildcard facilities or a combination of these requirements.