Ssl – Passed SSL checker, but browser doesn’t show secure

csrSecuritysslssl-certificate

I've set up my SSL certificate following the instructions at http://splittingelectrons.wordpress.com/2012/02/24/how-to-configure-an-ssl-certificate-for-apache-on-amazon-ec2/

I've checked my website on multiple SSL checkers and everything is OK, but when I visit the page in FireFox, I get https:// but with a globe instead of a green padlock. Refreshing the page gives a grey padlock.

When I click on the globe (before refreshing to the grey padlock), a dialog pops up saying "This website does not supply identity information. Clicking "more information" shows "Owner: This website does not supply identity information. Verified by: Not specified."

After refreshing, clicking on the grey padlock still shows the "Owner: Not specified" but at least does say "Verified by GeoTrust."

Any idea what's going on here and how to get this right so everyone will see a green padlock? Did I mess up something with my CSR request?

Thanks.

Best Answer

There exists a class of SSL certificates known as "extended validation" (EV) certificates. The extended validation process involves significantly more stringent checks on the identity of the CSR issuer than a simple "yes, we've seen this public key" SSL certificate, and they cost consequently significantly more than a straight SSL certificate. Firefox indicates the presence of such a certificate by showing a green padlock instead of a grey one.

You didn't tell us what kind of SSL certificate you bought, nor do you give us your URL, so we can't check, but I suspect the underlying problem is that you will need to pay extra for an EV certificate if you want to get the green padlock in Firefox.

Wikipedia notes that

Browsers with EV support display more information for EV certificates than for previous SSL certificates. Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, Mozilla Firefox 3, Safari 3.2, Opera 9.5, and Google Chrome all provide EV support.

though as Michael has clarified, it seems to be only Firefox that uses the green padlock specifically for EV certificates.

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