Do you have an Extended Validation Certificate?

Are you using Firefox 3? Cool, me too. See where the favicon is for this site up there in the address bar? Did you know it’s clickable?

That area now presents security information about the site you are visiting. Firefox is calling it the Site Identification Button, and it’s taking the old padlock icon to the next level. No longer will you be able to just see if the site you are visiting is secure, you’ll be able to learn more about who the site owner is. Identity will be shown via three icons. If you see a red icon, leave the site immediately.

The gray button says that the site doesn’t give out any identity information. The blue button shows the site you are visiting is encrypted and the domain has been verified, but the actual owner of the domain has not been identified. A green button shows the site is encrypted and the site has fully verified ownership.

I used this tool on one of my secure domains and here’s what it showed:

As you can see, we haven’t (yet) put an Extended Validation Certificate into place for our site. This will complete the identity process and ensure site visitors we are who we say we are.

This extra certificate isn’t just for Firefox. If you have this extra certificate in place, users will also see a green address bar in Internet Explorer.

These new EVC’s are available from a variety of vendors and it will be interesting to see how fast they are adopted and what their use rate will be in higher education. Dria.org has more about these certificates and the new security features of Firefox.

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Written by: Mike | June 19, 2008 | Filed Under Firefox, Security 

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