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I have a non-comercial website in which the users store some sensitive information so I feel the need to have a SSL certificate, but it seems that if I don't have a registered company I can't buy a green certificate.

I have some related questions:

  1. Is it true that if I don't have a company, I can't have a green certificate?
  2. If I issue a standard (non-business) certificate that won't go green (from GoDadday, for instance), will it go red? Or will it have a less ugly display.. something more neutral that won't scary the user.
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1: yes, you need to have a company

btw: What you mean is an extended validation (EV) certificate (I think its also called "class 3").

2: no, it will be displayed "normally" - depending of the browser. If the CA is accepted and your certificate chain is installed correctly the browser will correctly display the encryption informations.

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  • additional thanks for the EV concept. So, as I understand, the "green" displayed in the address bar is actually an EV. Certificates can be considered safe without an EV. Do you mind answering another question? Is there any chance major browsers will not show a red sign if I self generate a certificate? Or they will tend to display red if the issuing company isn't well known?
    – andrerpena
    Oct 23, 2012 at 11:41
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    Most major browsers will display an error or block access entirely to self-signed certificate sites, correct. If your site's users are willing and able to import your CA they would then automatically trust your certificates.
    – adric
    Oct 23, 2012 at 12:11
  • adric is absolutely correct. Since adverts are not welcome here I won´t post an URL but there are more or less accepted ssl-cert distibutors which are quite cheap and whose certificates are working in all major browsers. You´ll have to pay ~60$/year for a class 2 certificate.
    – cljk
    Oct 23, 2012 at 13:32

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