What is an Extended Validation (EV) SSL Certificate? (2024)

Table of Contents

What is an Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificate? What is an Organization Validation (OV) SSL certificate? What’s the difference between DV, OV and EV?

What is an Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificate?

An Extended Validation (EV) certificate is a type of TLS/SSL certificate that verifies that the certificate holder has undergone the most extensive level of vetting and identity background checks to certify that their website is authentic and legitimate. EV certificates are often required for high-profile brands, banks and other Fortune 500 companies. Extended validation means the certificate recipient and their website have completed a 16-point check to verify details such as: website domain, website owner, and the applicant’s legal, physical, and operational existence and identity.

DigiCert is the global leader in in issuing high-assurance EV certificates with approximately 59% of all EV certificates issued for the internet provided by DigiCert and its partners or subsidiaries.

What is an Organization Validation (OV) SSL certificate?

An Organization Validation (OV) TLS/SSL certificate is a mid-tier, high-assurance certificate. OV SSL certificates are authenticated with nine validation steps by Certificate Authorities. CAs confirm domain ownership and that the business organization affiliated with the certificate is valid and remains in good standing.

OV SSL certificates are best used on these websites and pages:

Log-in screens
Business sites

What’s the difference between DV, OV and EV?

Domain Validated (DV), Organization Validated (OV) and Extended Validation (EV) TLS/SSL certificates are differentiated by the level of identity checks they require and protect brands against. DV certificates require only web domain verification. OV certificates build upon DV certificates by validating a domain’s owner as well as organization type, name, status, phone number and organization blocklist check. EV certificates require the highest number of identity checks by involving all the same checks for DV and OV and adding validation of the organization’s registration number, jurisdiction, operational existence, domain fraud check and blocklist checks.