VeriSign tops 1 billion certificate checks/day

VeriSign, Inc., the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world, has reported it has topped the 1 billion mark for daily Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) checks.

The milestone means that with each passing second, VeriSign and its subsidiaries enable another 11,500 secure online transactions around the world. A key link in the online security chain, OCSP offers the most timely and efficient way for Web browsers to determine whether a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or user certificate is still valid or has been revoked.

Generally, when a browser initiates an SSL session, OCSP servers receive a query to check to see if the certificate in use is valid. Likewise, when a user initiates actions such as smartcard logon, VPN access or Web authentication, OCSP servers check the validity of the user certificate that is presented. OSCP servers are operated by Certificate Authorities, and VeriSign is the world's leading Certificate Authority

"More people transact online with sites secured by VeriSign than any other Certificate Authority, and today's announcement underscores our ability to meet the ever-scaling demands of Internet commerce," said Tim Callan, vice president of product marketing at VeriSign. "It takes a world-class infrastructure and the best practices in the business to support these volumes, and VeriSign has invested heavily over the years to keep pace with the growth of online commerce. As the security backbone of the Internet, VeriSign is uniquely positioned to enable secure transactions well beyond the milestone we've reached today."

As the most respected and trusted Certificate Authority on the Web, VeriSign is the EV SSL Certificate provider of choice for more than 10,000 Internet domain names, representing 74 percent of the entire EV SSL Certificate market worldwide. In fact, more than 95 percent of the Fortune 500 and 96 of the world's 100 largest SSL-using banks secure their sites with SSL Certificates sold by VeriSign*. Each year VeriSign also issues millions of user and device certificates per year to tens of thousands of enterprises, governments, and individuals around the world.