Entrust Certificate Services Support Knowledge Base

Audience: General
Last Modified: 2009-05-25 14:26:28.0

TN 7127 - What's the difference between an Advantage, Standard, and EV SSL certificate?

Question:

What is the difference between an Advantage, Standard and EV SSL certificate?

Answer:

An Advantage SSL certificate contains different certificate extensions than a Standard SSL certificate.  There are two additional extensions to an Advantage certificate which can provide greater functionality. These extensions are client authentication and subject alternative name (DNS only).

A Standard SSL certificate contains only the server authentication extension and can be used for browser-to-server SSL communication only, where the browser or device will authenticate the certificate on the server. This is also known as one way SSL authentication.

By contrast, an Advantage SSL certificate can be used for browser-to-server and server-to-server SSL security.  As well, you can have two alias names including the common name, secured with one SSL certificate via the subject alternative name extension (SubjectAltName).

An EV (Extended Validation) SSL server certificate is a new category of SSL certificate created by an industry consortium called the CA/Browser forum (http://www.cabforum.org/index.html).
This new category of certificate was conceived in response to the growing threat of phishing attacks with a goal of increasing consumer confidence in online transactions.

EV certificates will be issued to Web sites only after rigorous validation of their identity. Web browsers will reflect this higher level of identity assurance with prominent and distinct trust indicators, such as the green address bar used by Internet Explorer 7.

Technically, an EV SSL certificate is a step up from the Advantage SSL certificate. It provides all that an Advantage provides with the EV capability.

 

Affected Products:

• Entrust Certificate Services 1 Year Advantage SSL Certificate Version Not Applicable Language Not Applicable Platform Not Applicable
• Entrust Certificate Services 1 Year SSL Certificate Version Not Applicable Language Not Applicable Platform Not Applicable
• Entrust Certificate Services 2 Year Advantage SSL Certificate Version Not Applicable Language Not Applicable Platform Not Applicable
• Entrust Certificate Services 2 Year SSL Certificate Version Not Applicable Language Not Applicable Platform Not Applicable
• Entrust Certificate Services Cert Admin Advantage Server Certificate 1 Year Version Not Applicable Language Not Applicable Platform Not Applicable
• Entrust Certificate Services Cert Admin Advantage Server Certificate 2 Year Version Not Applicable Language Not Applicable Platform Not Applicable
• Entrust Certificate Services Certificate Administrator EV SSL - 1 Year Version Not Applicable Language Not Applicable Windows
• Entrust Certificate Services Certificate Administrator EV SSL - 2 Year Version Not Applicable Language Not Applicable Windows
• Entrust Certificate Services EV SSL - 1 Year Version Not Applicable English Windows
• Entrust Certificate Services EV SSL - 2 Year Version Not Applicable English Windows