Overview[1]#

Certificate Level Of Assurance (or Certificate Validation Levels) Over the last few years the number of organizations using SSL/TLS Certificates has increased dramatically.

Certificate Level Of Assurance is controlled by the CA-Browser Forum in the Baseline Requirements for Contents of Publicly Trusted SSL/TLS Certificates

The applications for which SSL is being used have also expanded. For example:

• Some organizations need SSL simply for confidentiality, e.g. encryption (Domain Validated Certificate)
• Some organizations wish to use SSL to enhance Trust in their security and identity, e.g. they want to show customers they have been vetted and are a legitimate organization

As the applications for SSL have started to become wider, three Level Of Assurance for SSL Certificates have emerged which are described below.

Certificate Level Of Assurance are generally for three recognized levels: (lowest to highest)

• Domain Validated Certificate (DV)
• Organization Validated Certificate (OV)
• Extended Validation Certificate (EV)

There are several forms of Identity Proofing within the Certificate Level Of Assurance.

More Information#

There might be more information for this subject on one of the following:

• Certificate
• Certificate Validation
• Certificate Validation Levels
• Domain Validated Certificate
• Extended Validation Certificate
• Organization Validated Certificate
• Registration Authority

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• [#1] - What are the Types of SSL? - based on information obtained 2015-05-24
• [#2] - Baseline Requirements for Contents of Publicly Trusted SSL/TLS Certificates - based on information obtained 2019-07-10