DigiCert

DigiCert, Inc. is a global digital security company and a leading global provider of digital trust [1][2] headquartered in Lehi, Utah, with over a dozen global offices in various countries including: Australia, Belgium, Bermuda, Ireland, Japan, India, Germany, France, Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland and United Kingdom.[3] As a certificate authority (CA) and trusted third party, DigiCert provides the public key infrastructure (PKI) and validation required for issuing digital certificates or TLS/SSL certificates. These certificates are used to verify and authenticate the identities of organizations and domains and to protect the privacy and data integrity of users’ digital interactions with web browsers, email clients, documents, software programs, apps, networks and connected IoT devices.

DigiCert, Inc.
TypePrivate company
IndustryInternet security, Public key infrastructure, IoT security
Founded2003 (2003)
Headquarters
Lehi, Utah, U.S.
Number of locations
12
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Amit Sinha (executive) (CEO)
  • Jason Sabin (CTO)
  • Christophe Bodin (CRO)
  • Deepika Chauhan (CPO)
Number of employees
1,000+
SubsidiariesCyberTrust
GeoTrust
QuoVadis
RapidSSL
Thawte
Mocana
DNS Made Easy
Websitewww.digicert.com

According to independent survey company Netcraft, "DigiCert is the world's largest high-assurance certificate authority, commanding 60% of the Extended Validation Certificate market, and 96% of organization-validated certificates globally."[4] DigiCert has 100+ Patents and Patents Pending.[5]

History
Example of a DigiCert issued certificate for *.wikipedia.org

DigiCert was founded by Ken Bretschneider in 2003.[6][7] Bretschneider served as CEO and chairman of the board until 2012 when he was appointed Executive chairman and Nicholas Hales became CEO.[8] In 2016, the company named John Merrill CEO.[9]

In 2005, DigiCert became a founding member of the CA/Browser Forum and remains active in the forum today.[10]

In 2007, DigiCert partnered with Microsoft to develop the industry's first multi-domain (SAN) certificate.[11][6]

In 2015, DigiCert acquired the CyberTrust Enterprise SSL business from Verizon Enterprise Solutions, becoming the world's second-largest certificate authority for high-assurance or extended validation (EV) TLS/SSL certificates.[12]

On August 28, 2015, in one of the largest investments in a Utah-based company to date, private equity firm Thoma Bravo acquired a majority stake in DigiCert, with TA Associates a leading global growth private equity firm, holding a minority share. Thoma Bravo was quoted as saying, "DigiCert represents an outstanding investment opportunity to back a market leader… known for its consistent innovation and first-rate customer service."[13]

In 2017, DigiCert acquired the TLS/SSL and PKI businesses from the world's largest certificate authority, Symantec (including brands GeoTrust, RapidSSL (part of GeoTrust), Thawte and Verisign), for $950 million.[14] The acquisition resulted from questions first raised in 2015 by web browsers Google and Mozilla about the authenticity of certificates issued by Symantec, which represented one-third of all TLS/SSL certificates on the web.[15][16] In September 2017, Google and Mozilla announced they would "... reduce, and ultimately remove, trust in Symantec's Root Keys in order to uphold users’ security and privacy when browsing the web." The final distrust deadline for certificates chaining to Symantec roots was set for October 2018.[17] Symantec agreed to transfer its certificate business to its top TLS/SSL competitor, DigiCert, whose roots were trusted by browsers.[18] In December 2017, DigiCert began issuing free replacements for all distrusted certificates from Symantec, GeoTrust, RapidSSL, Thawte and VeriSign. By Oct. 2018, the company had revalidated more than 550,000 organizational identities and issued more than 5 million replacement certificates for affected customers.[19]

In 2018, DigiCert acquired QuoVadis, a trust service provider (TSP) headquartered in Switzerland offering qualified digital certificates, PKI services and PrimoSign electronic signature software.[20] Qualified digital certificates from QuoVadis (now backed by DigiCert) comply with eIDAS, a set of EU standards for electronic transactions requiring legal proof of authentication. The EU Payment Services Directive mandated that banks and other financial institutions operating in Europe begin using qualified digital certificates by Jun. 2019. According to DigiCert, "... the QuoVadis acquisition aligns with the company's vision of providing globally dispersed and robust PKI-based solutions with local support."[21]

In 2019, the company announced a new R&D division called DigiCert Labs, "... an initiative dedicated to researching and developing innovative approaches to security challenges."[22] DigiCert Labs will collaborate with other enterprise labs – including Microsoft Research, Utimaco, ISARA and Gemalto – and make grants to universities for the study of topics related to authentication, data integrity, encryption and identity. Initial research projects will focus on post-quantum cryptography and machine learning.[23] In 2019, DigiCert also launched the first post-quantum computing tool kit.[24]

In 2019, Clearlake Capital Group, L.P., a leading private investment firm, and TA Associates, an existing investor, reached an agreement to make a strategic growth investment in DigiCert. As part of the transaction, Clearlake and TA Associates become equal partners in the company.[25][26]

In 2020, according to independent survey company Netcraft, "DigiCert is the world's largest high-assurance certificate authority, commanding 60% of the Extended Validation Certificate market, and 96% of organization-validated certificates globally."[4]

DigiCert is a member of the CA/Browser Forum, an industry consortium that creates guidelines and standards for participating certificate authorities and web browsers.[27] Dean Coclin, Sr. Director of Business Development at DigiCert, served as vice-chairperson of the CA/Browser Forum from Nov. 1, 2018 until Oct. 31, 2020.[28]

DigiCert Inc. is of no relation to Digicert Sdn. Bhd, a Malaysian-based certification authority that issues certificates with weak keys and had its trust revoked by web browsers.[29][30][31]

In January 2022, DigiCert acquired IoT security company Mocana.[32] In June 2022, the company acquired DNS Made Easy, a DNS services provider.[33]

On October 19, 2022, DigiCert named Dr. Amit Sinha CEO and board member.[34] Amit had previously lead technology and innovation at cybersecurity leader Zscaler the previous 12 years.

Awards
  • 2022 - Best Companies to Work For in Utah[35]
  • 2022 - American Business Awards® Identity & Access Security Solution: DigiCert ONE[36]
  • 2022 - CRN The 10 Coolest IoT Security Companies: The Internet Of Things 50[37]
  • 2021 - CRN The 20 Coolest Web, Application and Email Security Companies: The Security 100[38][39]
  • 2021 - IoT Breakthrough Award, IoT Security Product of the Year[40][41]
  • 2020 - IoT Product of the Year Award Recipient: DigiCert ONE[42]
  • 2020 - CRN The 20 Coolest Web, Email and Application Security Companies: The Security 100[43]
  • 2020 - Frost & Sullivan 2020 Global Company of the Year Award in TLS Certificate Market[44][45]
  • 2019 - CRN Security 100: 20 Coolest Email, Web and Application Security Vendors[46]
  • 2018 - American Business Awards® New Product or Service of the Year - Software - Application Programming Interface (API) Management Solution[47]
  • 2018 - American Business Awards® New Product or Service of the Year - Software - Healthcare Technology Solution[47]
  • 2017 - Frost & Sullivan 2017 North American Visionary Innovation Leadership Award for Internet of Things Security[48]

Criticism

In 2019, Google security researcher Scott Helme revoked approximately a million dollars worth of extended verification certificates, a significant portion of which were DigiCert certificates.[49]

QWAC and EV

DigiCert was condemned for pushing QWAC scheme of certificate similar to EV certificates that undermined trust in certificates.[50][51][52][53]

References
  1. Inc, DigiCert. "DigiCert Releases Cybersecurity Predictions for 2023 and Beyond". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2023-03-29. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  2. Editorial (2022-05-06). "Meet Digicert A Leading Global Provider Of Digital Trust Enabling Individuals And Businesses To Engage Online With The Confidence". Tech Company News. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  3. "DigiCert Fact Sheet" (PDF). digicert.com. 2021.
  4. "DigiCert - World's Largest High-Assurance Certificate Authority | Netcraft". trends.netcraft.com.
  5. "Digicert incPatents | PatentGuru". www.patentguru.com. Retrieved 2023-01-27.
  6. "History of Innovation | DigiCert". www.digicert.com. Retrieved 2023-01-27.
  7. Anstey, Tom (2018). "Interview - Ken Bretschneider and Josh Shipley" (PDF). Attractions Management. 2018 (4): 35.
  8. “Utah’s DigiCert reorganizes its management”. The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  9. “DigiCert names CEO”. Daily Herald. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  10. "Members". CAB Forum. Retrieved 2023-01-27.
  11. "DigiCert Fact Sheet" (PDF). digicert.com.
  12. “DigiCert Acquires Verizon Enterprise SSL Business”. DigiCert.com. Retrieved 2019-03-01.
  13. Sean Michael Kerner (2015-08-28). "Thoma Bravo Invests in Security Firm DigiCert". Eweek.com. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  14. Raymond, Art (3 August 2017). "Lehi's DigiCert swallows web security competitor in $1 billion deal". Deseret News. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  15. Sharwood, Simon. “Symantec offloads its certs and web security biz to DigiCert”. The Register. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
  16. Constantin, Lucian. “To punish Symantec, Google may distrust a third of the web’s SSL certificates”. Computerworld. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
  17. “Chrome’s Plan to Distrust Symantec Certificates”. Google. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
  18. "DigiCert Closes Acquisition of Symantec's Website SSL Security Unit". eWeek. Retrieved 2019-03-11.
  19. "DigiCert works with its customers and partners to successfully move past Google's distrust of Symantec TLS certificates". PR Newswire. Retrieved 2019-03-01.
  20. Kent, Jonathan (2018-10-31). "QuoVadis to be sold to US firm DigiCert". www.royalgazette.com. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
  21. Barker, Sara. “DigiCert’s QuoVadis acquisition extends PKI expertise in Europe”. SecurityBrief EMEA. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
  22. “DigiCert Labs to innovate new security technologies that address emerging threats through collaboration with academic and industry research”. PR Newswire. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  23. Barker, Sara. “DigiCert Labs to research postquantum cryptography and ML”. SecurityBrief EMEA. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  24. "DigiCert Announces Post-Quantum Computing Tool Kit | DigiCert.com". www.digicert.com. Retrieved 2023-01-27.
  25. "News | TA". TA Associates. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  26. "CLEARLAKE CAPITAL GROUP AND TA ASSOCIATES TO MAKE A STRATEGIC GROWTH INVESTMENT IN DIGICERT". Clearlake Capital. 2019-07-09. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  27. CA/Browser Forum Members. CA/Browser Forum. Retrieved 2019-02-28
  28. CA/Browser Forum Leadership. CA/Browser Forum. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  29. "SSL Certificate Support - Entrust, Inc". Entrust.net. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  30. Revoking Trust in DigiCert Sdn. Bhd Intermediate Certificate Authority, Mozilla. "DigiCert Sdn. Bhd is a Malaysian subordinate CA under Entrust and Verizon (GTE CyberTrust). It bears no affiliation whatsoever with the US-based corporation DigiCert, Inc., which is a member of Mozilla's root program."
  31. Microsoft Security Advisory (2641690) "DigiCert Sdn. Bhd is not affiliated with the corporation DigiCert, Inc., which is a member of the Microsoft Root Certificate Program."
  32. Sawers, Paul. "DigiCert acquires Mocana to bolster IoT security". VentureBeat. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  33. Graham, Patrick (2022-06-09). "DigiCert Acquires DNS Made Easy". www.themiddlemarket.com. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
  34. "DigiCert Appoints Industry Veteran Amit Sinha as Chief Executive Officer". www.prnewswire.com. 2022-10-19. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  35. Malan, Mekenna (December 7, 2022). "Meet the 2022 Best Companies to Work For in Utah". utahbusiness.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  36. "Identity & Access Security Solution". stevieawards.com/. June 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  37. Novinison, Michael (April 5, 2022). "The 10 Coolest IoT Security Companies: The 2022 Internet Of Things 50". crn.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  38. Michael, Novinson (February 23, 2021). "The 20 Coolest Web, Application And Email Security Companies Of 2021: The Security 100". crn.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  39. "DIGICERT NAMED TO CRN SECURITY 100 LIST FOR WEB, APPLICATION AND EMAIL SECURITY". digicert.com. March 4, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  40. "2021 IoT Breakthrough Winners". iotbreakthrough.com. January 13, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  41. "DIGICERT ONE RECEIVES IOT BREAKTHROUGH SECURITY PRODUCT OF THE YEAR AWARD". digicert.com. January 13, 2021.
  42. "Winners of the 2020 IoT Evolution Product of the Year Awards Announced". www.iotevolutionworld.com/. July 16, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  43. Novinson, Michael (February 25, 2020). "The 20 Coolest Web, Email And Application Security Companies Of 2020: The Security 100". crn.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  44. "DigiCert Named 2020 Global Company of the Year in TLS Certificate Market by Frost & Sullivan". frost.com. May 21, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  45. "DIGICERT NAMED 2020 GLOBAL COMPANY OF THE YEAR IN TLS CERTIFICATE MARKET BY FROST & SULLIVAN". digicert.com. May 21, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  46. Novinson, Michael (February 25, 2019). "2019 Security 100: 20 Coolest Email, Web And Application Security Vendors". crn.com.
  47. "New Product Awards". stevieawards.com/. June 11, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  48. "Frost & Sullivan Recognizes DigiCert with its 2017 North American Visionary Innovation Leadership Award for Internet of Things Security". www.prnewswire.com/. Sep 12, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  49. Helme, Scott (11 September 2019). "Extended Validation not so... extended? How I revoked $1,000,000 worth of EV certificates!". Archived from the original on 2019-09-11. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
  50. Helme, Scott (4 January 2022). "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and QWACs like a duck, then it's probably an EV Certificate". Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  51. "Mozilla and the EFF publish letter about the danger of Article 45.2 | The Mozilla Blog". blog.mozilla.org. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
  52. "Experts urge EU not to force insecure certificates in web browsers". BleepingComputer. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
  53. Callas, Alexis Hancock and Jon (2022-02-09). "What the Duck? Why an EU Proposal to Require "QWACs" Will Hurt Internet Security". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
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