Do You Trust your SSL Certificate? – I Don’t thanks to Symantec

There has been a lot of discussion lately about the integrity of the entire SSL Certificate industry thanks in part to Symantec’s decision to cheapen the trust level of one of their best products – VeriSign’s SSL Certificate software.

In case you’ve lived under a rock for the past few months, back in April of this year, Symantec, who owns both Norton and VeriSign SSL Certificate software products made the decision to change the highly regarded VeriSign SSL Checkmark of approval to the less-than-reliable Norton Secured Seal. This decision instantly caused a panic for those who take internet security seriously. It also developed quite a cult following of people who previously hated Norton for several other reasons to jump on the Hate Symantec bandwagon. 

Maybe I’m a bit paranoid, but when I shop online, the first thing I do is check to see if the website is protected by a reliable SSL Certificate. This blocks any hackers from logging onto the website when I’m entering my private banking information to purchase a product and then steal my identity or private info. If I don’t see a reliable SSL Certificate, I don’t buy – it’s really that simple. 

The funny thing is that I’m not alone in this philosophy. Several million online shoppers base their entire online habits based on trusting that a website or online company has their safety and security top of mind. This is what VeriSign established for several years with their highly trustworthy Checkmark. And sadly what Symantec destroyed with one quick decision in April 2012 to replace their best marketing tool with a bag of crap. 

And that’s precisely what the Norton Secured Seal is – a crappy guarantee for a product that simply does not work to protect consumers online as well as the VeriSign product has done in the past. 

The question that needs to be asked is why did Symantec make this decision? Was it about ego and trying to brand Norton (their pet project) and destroy the VeriSign Brand? If so, that was a really lame decision on their part. I don’t want to act like I know it all, and I certainly don’t own a huge SSL Security Software company (but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night which makes me qualified), but it seems to me the better philosophy would be to place the highly trusted VeriSign Checkmark on Norton products – not the other way around. 

I’m certain had they done this, the Hate Norton blogs would be shorter than they currently are and that Symantec would actually be a reliable and trusted company. Sadly, they didn’t sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last the night before making this cataclysmic business branding decision and several online shoppers and companies are striking back.

Several industry leading websites that used to be protected with SSL Certificates are naked now with zero online protection. Internet sales are dropping due to this business decision and frankly many people who own online companies are searching for a reliable company who can provide their customers with a safe place to conduct business. 

Again, perhaps I’m paranoid, but honestly, I don’t trust my Symantec SSL Certificate any longer and will be making a change to another reliable company very soon. Any suggestions on what product I should use would be helpful.