The Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) is the most widely deployed security protocol used today. It is essentially a protocol that provides a secure channel between two machines operating over the Internet or an internal network. In today’s Internet focused world, the SSL protocol is typically used when a web browser needs to securely connect to a web server over the inherently insecure Internet.

In order to use SSL/TSL we require SSL Certificate to be created by CA (Certificate Authority). Prior to a CA issuing a certificate to a company the CA performs a level of validation on the authenticity that the company are who they say they are. There are 3 levels of validation ranging from DV (lowest) level all the way up to EV (highest).

Domain Validation (DV) – This type of certificate is the least expensive of the 3. It requires a basic form of domain validation to be performed. Validation is performed by email.
Organization Validation (OV) – When obtaining an OV certificate the company name is checked against a company register.
Extended Validation (EV) – Like OV a company search is performed, however the physical location is also checked and the contact who requested the certificate is also validated.

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