Loading...A lot of terms float around the infosec industry relating to website security. Domain validation certificates. Wildcard SSL certificates. OV wildcard SSL certificates. As someone who may not specialize in IT security for information security, these terms and acronyms may be a bit challenging to remember or, perhaps, even a bit daunting. Luckily, you have us to help you.
What Are OV Wildcard SSL Certificates?
When people talk about OV wildcard SSL certificates, they’re typically referring to a type of SSL certificate that secures your main domain and an unlimited number of subdomains on a single level. This is known as a wildcard SSL certificate. Note: Wildcard SSL certificates don’t cover multi-level subdomains. That falls in the territory of multi-domain wildcard SSL certificates — or multi-domain SSL certificates in some instances — but we’ll get to that more in a bit. Back to the question at hand.
What is OV SSL Certificate?
The “OV” in an OV wildcard SSL certificate actually stands for organization validation — a type of business verification. The two other types of validation for SSL certificates are domain validation (DV) and extended validation (EV). However, wildcard SSL certificates are only issued with OV and DV validation; the CA/B Forum strictly prohibits the issuance of EV wildcard certificates.
If a certificate authority (CA) issued an OV wildcard SSL certificate for your site, it means that the CA has successfully verified both your domain and organization through basic validation. When we talk about validation, we’re referring to the practice of verifying that the person or organization who requested the certificate — typically the site owner — is, in fact, responsible for the domain and is a part of the organization that’s attached to the domain.
“An OV SSL certificate is an SSL certificate where the CA verifies your domain ownership and the part of the organization associated with the domain before issuing the certificate.”
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Let’s say, for example, that you own a pizzeria called We Make Pizza. You create a website and register the domain wemakepizza.com for your business to share your products with the world and your local community. Because you care about your customers and want to keep them safe, you decide to secure it — and all of your first-level subdomains — with an OV wildcard SSL certificate.
Before that can happen, though, you will need to undergo light vetting by the CA to prove the legitimacy of your organization. Essentially, this helps them to ensure that you are who you say you are. It also helps to build customer trust by ensuring that your website doesn’t get flagged as “Not Secure” by major browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari.
When Should I Use a Wildcard SSL Certificate?
Using the pizzeria example, you’ll want to use a wildcard SSL certificate when you have a single domain and an unlimited number of subdomains (at a single level) that you wish to secure. If you have multiple domains — or a single domain and fewer than 247 subdomains — to secure, then you can use a multi-domain SSL certificate and add the subdomains as individual SAN fields.
If you have multiple domains and a litany of subdomains at varying levels, you’ll want to get an all-in-one cert known as a multi-domain wildcard certificate. This protects the subdomains for multiple domains.
What are the Similarities & Differences Between Different OV Wildcard SSL Certificates?
While OV wildcard SSL certificates can vary in terms of their issuing certificate authority, the warranties they come with, and the cost, these certificates all essentially do the same thing: Validate both your domain and your business at a basic level.
What Are the Types of OV Wildcard SSL Certificates?
Much like with the wide range of toppings that are available on a pizza, we offer a variety of OV wildcard SSL certificates at CheapSSLsecurity.com. These include both OV wildcard certificates and OV multi-domain wildcard certificates.
Our certificate offerings range broadly in terms of warranties and costs to meet your needs. Because we purchase our certificates from CAs in vast numbers, it means that we are able to get them at a discount and offer the cheapest SSL certificate prices on the market.
Don’t believe us? Take a look for yourself:
| Product | Warranty | Issuance Time | Amount You Save | Cheapest Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comodo PremiumSSL Wildcard | $250K | 1-3 Days | $344.33 | $101.92/year | Shop Now |
| Thawte Wildcard SSL Certificate | $1.25M | 1-3 Days | $372.31 | $226.69/year | Shop Now |
| Comodo Unified Communication Wildcard Certificate | $250k | 1-3 Days | $449.17 | $226.58/year | Shop Now |
| Sectigo OV SSL Multi-Domain Wildcard | $1M | 1-3 Days | $1,247.19 | $226.58/year | Shop Now |
| Sectigo OV SSL Wildcard Certificate | $1M | 1-3 Days | $752.06 | $242.94/year | Shop Now |
| Comodo Multi-Domain Wildcard SSL | $250K | 1-3 Days | $469.81 | $250.10/year | Shop Now |
| GeoTrust True BusinessID Wildcard | $1.25M | 1-3 Days | $334.94 | $264.06/year | Shop Now |
| SSL Web Server Multi-Domain Wildcard | $1.25M | 1-3 Days | $1,363.77 | $332.23/year | Shop Now |
| True BusinessID Multi-Domain Wildcard | $1.25M | 1-3 Days | $1,517.88 | $338.12/year | Shop Now |
| DigiCert Wildcard SSL | $1.5M | 1 Day | $160.92 | $527.08/year | Shop Now |
| EnterpriseSSL Pro Wildcard Certificate | $1.5M | 1-3 Days | $749.35 | $980.00/year | Shop Now |
| Symantec Wildcard SSL Certificate | $1.5M | 1-3 Days | $577.94 | $1,421.06/year | Shop Now |
| Digicert Secure Site Wildcard SSL | $1.75MM | 1 Day | $524.00 | $1,475.00/year | Shop Now |
| Secure Site Multi-Domain Wildcard | $1.5M | 1-3 Days | $2,885.75 | $1,511.25/year | Shop Now |
| Secure Site Pro Wildcard Certificate | $1.5M | 1-3 Days | $1,322.81 | $3,652.19/year | Shop Now |
| Secure Site Pro Multi-Domain Wildcard | $1.5M | 1-3 Days | $7,151.64 | $3,793.36/year | Shop Now |
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We offer the best prices for wildcard SSL certificates from major certificate authorities like Comodo CA, RapidSSL, Sectigo, Thawte, and GeoTrust starting as low as $52.95 per year.
