[thelist] Verisign's 128 bit SSL Certs $995?

[Maisha Walker]

Thank you Joshua and Shawn - and thanks for the link - very helpful!

One of my clients is very interested in having the VeriSign seal on his Web
site and purchasing an SSL cert from them is his idea for getting that.  

Their 40 bit encryption cert is "only" $395.  

Do you think it would be a disservice to him and his customers to use only
40 bit encryption?

Maisha

-----Original Message-----
From: thelist-bounces at lists.evolt.org
[mailto:thelist-bounces at lists.evolt.org] On Behalf Of Joshua Olson
Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2005 11:00 PM
To: thelist at lists.evolt.org
Subject: Re: [thelist] Verisign's 128 bit SSL Certs $995?

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Maisha Walker
> Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2005 9:02 PM
> 
> Can anyone with expertise on SSL comment on Verisign's $995 
> price tag as compared to many many other companies that offer 
> certs for $89-$130?

Maisha,

It sounds to me like a marketing hype.  

Here is a bit of information on SGC:

http://www.whichssl.com/myths_about_sgc.html

Basically, SGC allows client browsers to use 128 bit security even if they
were restricted to something less.  This situation came to be because of
export restrictions imposed by the US Government.  Once these restrictions
were lifted back in 2000, vendors such as MS started distributing browsers
that were natively capable of handling 128 bit encryption, therefore making
SGC moot.

Even the certs offered by InstantSSL for 80 bucks a year support 128 bit
encryption, so long as the browser supports it.  Since most do, SGC
certificates are not needed.

<><><><><><><><><><>
Joshua L. Olson
WAE Tech Inc.
http://www.waetech.com/
Phone: 706.210.0168 
Fax: 413.812.4864

Monitor bandwidth usage on IIS6 in real-time:
http://www.waetech.com/services/iisbm/


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