Why are we still using the CA model? (Re: Microsoft deems all DigiNotar certificates untrustworthy, releases updates)

Mon Sep 12 03:06:04 UTC 2011

On Sep 11, 2011, at 9:44 PM, "Christopher Morrow" <morrowc.lists at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 10:23 PM, Jimmy Hess <mysidia at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 9:08 PM, Christopher Morrow
>> <morrowc.lists at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> what's the real benefit of an EV cert? (to the service owner, not the
>>> CA, the CA benefit is pretty clearly $$)
>> 
>> The benefit is to the end user.
>> They see a green address bar  with the company's name displayed.
>> 
>> Yeah, company's name displayed -- individuals cannot apply for EVSSL certs.
>> 
> 
> this isn't really a benefit though, is it? isn't the domain-name in
> the location bar doing the same thing?

No. As a counter example... How may domain names do Wells Fargo and Citibank (Citi Corp? Citi Group?) operate respectively? I'm a customer, and I can't keep it straight. 

Companies that wrap their services with generic domain names (paymybills.com and the like) have no one to blame but themselves when they are targeted by scammers and phishing schemes. Even EV certificates don't help when consumers are blinded by subsidiary companies and sister companies daily (Motorola Mobility a.k.a. Google vs. Motorola Solutions.)

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