ServerTastic Blog - Stuff that happens at ServerTastic and other product related things
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CA Root Upgrade for SSL Certificates

During the second half of 2010 VeriSign, Thawte, Geotrust and RapidSSL certificates will transition to use a 2048-bit root.

This will have no impact on existing certificates. These will continue to work as expected. However once the root has been updated (we will provide details when this happens) you must ensure you install any intermediary certificates as instructed in your fulfilment emails.

An important change to note is that once the new roots are in place RapidSSL will be issued with an intermediary certificate. This has become common practice within the industry.

Prior to the change you may want to ensure that your applications support the use of 2048-bit certificates.

For more information and FAQ's please see the links below

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Filed under  //   Geotrust   rapidssl   SSL   VeriSign  
Posted by Andy Gambles 

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RapidSSL and Geotrust now secure WWW and non-WWW domain

The latest update to the SSL order system means that RapidSSL and Geotrust certificates now automatically secure the WWW and non-WWW domain in a single certificate.

For instance if you order a RapidSSL certificate for servertastic.com it will also secure www.servertastic.com for no extra charge and within the same certificate. You do not need to do anything extra in the order process this is automatic.
The following certificates now have this feature at no extra cost

All these are available for amazing discounts on ServerTastic.

If you are not already signed up to our newsletter visit the blog and do so now. More exciting features and promotions will be announced soon.

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Filed under  //   EV   Geotrust   QuickSSL Premium   rapidssl   SSL   True BusinessID  
Posted by Andy Gambles 

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SSL Certificate Flagged For Quality Review

The RapidSSL and QuickSSL Premium SSL certificates sold by ServerTastic are usually issued in less than 10 minutes from your order. They simply require you to click a link in an email to complete domain validation.

However we are receiving an increase in the number of tickets asking about delays in the certificate being issued and "quality reviews". It is possible that your SSL order may be flagged for a quality review by RapidSSL/Geotrust. This means that the order must be completed by a member of the RapidSSL/Geotrust staff.

You will know if your certificate has been flagged for review because on the confirmation page after you click the email authorisation link you will see the following wording

Your order is pending a final quality review prior to issuance. This review is normally completed within one business day. For more information on why your order was selected for final quality review visit our FAQs at [link]

There are many reasons your order may be flagged for review. These include:

  • Domain whois details appear invalid
  • Website does not load or resolve
  • The domain contains a flagged phrase. For example BANK is a defined term therefore a certificate for riverbanktours.com may be flagged for quality review
  • Your order was randomly selected for review (unlucky!)

Here are some of the things you can do (before requesting your certificate) to try and reduce the likely hood of your order being flagged for a quality review:

  • Remove any whois privacy settings on your domain
  • Make sure the domain whois contains valid details
  • Make sure the domain resolves to a live website

If your certificate does get flagged for a quality review there is very little ServerTastic can do to speed up the review process. They are all checked on a first come first served basis during working hours Monday to Friday. The review is performed by RapidSSL/Geotrust NOT ServerTastic. You can try and speed up the review by contacting Geotrust on the LiveChat link from their support page. In most cases they can do the required steps with you while on line.

It is also likely that the certificate would have been flagged if you had ordered through any other reseller or direct.

You can always contact ServerTastic if you have a problem with your order but please be aware there is little we can do if the order is under quality review.

Remember you can also check the status of your order at any time via the Self Service System.

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Filed under  //   Geotrust   QuickSSL Premium   rapidssl   SSL  
Posted by Andy Gambles 

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RapidSSL Re-issuance Insurance

Over the last few months there has been a steady increase in support requests about re-issuing RapidSSL certificates and insurance.

RapidSSL certificates without insurance can be re-issued an unlimited number of times for the first 7 days after the certificate has been issued. This is not the day it was purchased from ServerTastic but the issuance date stated within the certificate.

This 7 day period is provided in case you have problems with installation and need to re-issue the certificate.

After these 7 days have passed it is not possible to re-issue the certificate unless you have insurance. If it is day 8 and you need to re-issue the certificate then sorry but you can't!

It is therefore important that if you are having installation problems during the first week that you seek assistance. If it is coming to the end of the first 7 days and you have not yet got the installation completed contact us and we can cancel the order and you can then start again. We are only able to cancel orders without charge within the first 7 days.

If you purchased your certificate without insurance it is possible to purchase re-issuance insurance directly from RapidSSL at a later date but this will cost more than purchasing a new RapidSSL from ServerTastic.

If you purchase your certificate with insurance then you can re-issue the certificate as many times as you want for the life of the certificate. You do not have to worry about server crashes, corruption or having to move server.

So it is important to note the following points when purchasing your certificate without insurance:

  • You can only re-issue your certificate during the first 7 days
  • You are responsible for maintaining a backup of your certificate
  • If you suffer a server failure and do not have a back-up you will have to purchase the certificate again
  • If you need to move servers/host and can not export your existing certificate you will have to purchase it again
Final Comment:
We are not trying to be awkward or unfriendly. However ServerTastic is a low cost provider. The margins on RapidSSL certificates are very small. As such we are unable to pay for re-issues to customers who do not have insurance. Please if you are unsure we highly recommend spending a little extra and getting the insurance.

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Filed under  //   RapidSSL   SSL  
Posted by Andy Gambles 

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Manage Your SSL Certificate Orders

Customers purchasing their RapidSSL, Geotrust, thawte or Verisign SSL certificate from ServerTastic are now able to manage their SSL certificate orders and perform the following actions:

  • Resend approver emails
  • Resend fulfilment emails
  • Re-issue certificates (where purchase allows)
  • Revoke certificates
  • Check status and view comments for org validated and EV certificate orders in process
How cool is that! You no longer need to raise a support ticket to perform any of these actions - you can do them yourself.

"I have heard enough how do I do this?" I hear you all cry. Simply visit the relevant URL below (you can bookmark it) and complete the form. You will require to know the SSL domain, the admin email contact (which you will also require access to) and the captcha.

You will then be shown your order for verification. Click "Select" next to the correct order and then submit to confirm your email address. An email will be sent to the admin contact email address which will contain a unique URL allowing instant access to your order. It sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is. I simply suggest you give it a try!

End User Order Management
RapidSSL and Geotrust branded order management: Click Here
thawte branded order management: Click Here
VeriSign branded order management: Click Here

SSL Certificate Resellers
You can also provide these links to your customer. They are not branded by ServerTastic in anyway so the customer will never know (if that is what you want).

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Filed under  //   Geotrust   rapidssl   ServerTastic   SSL   thawte   VeriSign  
Posted by Andy Gambles 

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ServerTastic SSL Certificates Safe From Threats Presented at Black Hat

There have been a number of attacks aimed at SSL Certificates demonstrated at the recent Black Hat event in Las Vegas. VeriSign have confirmed that non of the certificates issued within the VeriSign group are susceptibale to these attacks. This includes RapidSSL , thawte and Geotrust.

This was confirmed on Tim Callans SSL Blog. I have pasted the relevent excerpts below

Use of null Characters

The focus of this presentation was various ways to use null characters to fool browsers and other pieces of relying software into believing a certificate has been issued to a different domain than the one to which is was actually issued. The idea is that the attack would give the online criminal the ability to put up a certificate on what appears to be the exact same domain name as the targeted site. sslstrip accomplishes this feat through a Man-in-the-Middle attack and uses the null-character certificate to create its false certificates on the fly.


I'm pleased to say that none of VeriSign's SSL Certificates on any brand allow null characters, meaning that you can't use any of our certificates in the attack detailed today. While the fundamental problem needs to be solved by the client software that trusts these certificates, we still prefer not to be contributing to the problem. And until these problems are solved at the source, EV SSL is a great interim solution. The detailed attack will not work against EV SSL (as agreed by Mr. Marlinspike during the Q and A session after his talk), which means that sites have the power to defend themselves against null character attacks and in fact all attacks using sslstrip.

MD2 No Longer Secure

Kaminsky covered several topics which had SSL as a common theme. Interestingly, he also revealed his own work with null characters, which was very similar to Marlinspike's. In addition, Kaminsky talked about pre-image attacks against MD2, which he expects to be viable this calendar year. He reports that MD2 is not trusted or soon to not be trusted on these applications and platforms: Firefox, OpenSSL, Red Hat, Opera, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and VeriSign. Here I can be more specific. As of May 2009, VeriSign is issuing its SSL Certificates on all brands using SHA-1.

Leading Zeros

Kaminsky also described a "leading zero attack," by which a certificate can fool client software by essentially attaching an invisible zero to the first hex character in the certificate. Again, I'm happy to tell you that VeriSign won't issue SSL Certificates with leading zeros on any of our brands.

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Filed under  //   Black Hat   Geotrust   rapidssl   security   ServerTastic   SSL   thawte   VeriSign   vulnerabilities  
Posted by Andy Gambles 

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VeriSign SSL Certificates Soar Past 4 Million Mark

VeriSign have announced that they have issued 4 million SSL Certificates since 1995.

Full press release below:

In 14 Years as SSL Pioneer and Market Leader, VeriSign and Its Brands Make Trusted Interactions Possible for Millions of Web Sites and Services

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- (Marketwire) -- July 27, 2009 -- VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world, today announced that it has issued more than 4 million Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificates. The total includes certificates issued by VeriSign under all four of its SSL brands: VeriSign®, GeoTrust®, thawte®, and RapidSSL®.

Since 1995, the company has served as a trusted third party and Certificate Authority responsible for issuing and authenticating a range of digital certificates designed to protect online businesses and their customers by:

 

--  Encrypting sensitive information during online transactions
--  Authenticating the identity of certificate owners
--  Warning when certificates are invalid
    

Under its four brands, VeriSign issues, authenticates and manages a range of certificates that are vital to the secure and trusted operation of the Internet, Web-based applications, and services requiring digital IDs, including:

 

--  SSL Certificates. VeriSign provides secure SSL encryption to Web sites
    protected by all VeriSign SSL Certificates brands, enabling trusted e-
    commerce, communications, and interactions on Web sites, intranets, and
    extranets.
--  Extended Validation (EV) SSL Certificates. EV SSL protection provides
    Web users using high security browsers with immediate visual confirmation
    that they've reached a site whose authenticity has been independently
    verified by VeriSign.
--  Server-Gated Cryptography (SGC) Certificates.  VeriSign's SGC
    Certificates enable every Web site visitor to connect using the strongest
    encryption for which their systems are capable.
--  Code Signing Certificates. VeriSign® Code Signing creates a digital
    "shrink-wrap" for code and content to protect software publishers and users
    when they download code and content over the Internet and mobile networks.
--  PKI Certificates. VeriSign protects enterprises, government agencies
    and others with a flexible platform enabling complete management of digital
    certificates for authentication, encryption and digital signing.
    

The milestone of issuing more than 4 million SSL certificates underscores how VeriSign is essential to enabling secure online transactions around the world. The company has issued more than 12,000 EV SSL Certificates, making VeriSign the far-and-away market leader with a 74 percent share of the EV SSL market. And every day, VeriSign conducts up to 1 billion Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) checks -- the most timely and efficient way for Web browsers to determine whether an SSL or user certificate is still valid or has been revoked and a key indicator of secure sessions initiated using VeriSign SSL Certificates.

VeriSign also plays a vital role in Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) deployments, which use digital certificates for authentication, encryption and digital signing. In the past 14 years, VeriSign has issued and managed tens of millions of PKI certificates for thousands of customers throughout the world.

"As the world's leading SSL Certificate Authority, VeriSign understands that when customer trust is paramount, second best is never nearly good enough," said Tim Callan, vice president of product marketing at VeriSign. "Now more than ever, in a marketplace that is truly global and increasingly competitive, protecting a Web site, application or service with VeriSign is an investment that pays dividends every day."

 

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Filed under  //   Geotrust   rapidssl   SSL   thawte   VeriSign  
Posted by Andy Gambles 

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Free SSL Certificate Promotion

Promotion Ends 31st July 2009!

We are giving away, at random, 10 free RapidSSL certificates (1 year). To qualify for a chance to get a free certificate you must simply become a fan of ServerTastic on Facebook before 31st July 2009.

We will chose 10 fans at random and announce the winners on 5th August 2009 via Facebook.

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Filed under  //   competition   facebook   Promotions   rapidssl   SSL  
Posted by Andy Gambles 

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ServerTastic On Facebook

ServerTastic is now on Facebook! We have our own page where you can come and tell us how much you love, loathe or hate us (hopefully the former!)

We are a bit lonely at the moment and would really like you to show us some love. Simply click here and then click the "Become a fan" image. You can then post on our wall or start a discussion on the discussion boards.

Plus to help get you motivated we are offering a free RapidSSL certificate (1 Year) to 10 fans selected at random. To qualify for selection you must become a fan on or before 31st July 2009. Winners will be announced on 5th August 2009.

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Filed under  //   facebook   rapidssl   ServerTastic   SSL  
Posted by Andy Gambles 

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Too Many Abandoned Carts?

Do not let your website carts get abandoned. Secure them with an appropriate SSL Certificate.

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Filed under  //   Geotrust   rapidssl   SSL   thawte   VeriSign  
Posted by Andy Gambles 

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