Sectigo and Comodo: Know Their Differences
Comodo in CA made an announcement that they are now called Sectigo as they move forward. The decision was made after a while and it now comes from acquiring the Comodo Certificate Authority. Obviously, this is a huge thing because it triggers a couple of questions for partners, customers, and resellers of the Certificate Authority which used to be Comodo CA.
In the past 20 years, Comodo CA provided solutions for digital identity to enterprises and small businesses. They issued over 100 million SSL certificates to 200 countries. By changing the brand to Sectigo, they can establish their own identity from Comodo CA which is their predecessor. They are also emphasizing expansion that goes beyond SSL. The change renewed its commitment to innovation, service, and digital information.
Why Did They Change Their Name?
It is all because of when Comodo sold its Certificate Authority wing to Francisco Partners in 2017. The reason is that Francisco Partners only focuses on technology investments, and they saw Comodo CA’s certificate business potential.
Comodo only sold its certification authority wing and continued trading under the Comodo Group. They offered products like the cWatch and antivirus software. Basically, anything that is not under the Certificate Authority banner.
As a result, Comodo Group and Comodo CA were left with the same name. Both are sharing the same operational industry space. Something had to give in, and it was Comodo CA that first took the chance to stand out so it can acquire a new identity.
What You Must Know
- The SSL certificate’s new identity does not affect their credibility – it remains the same. Comodo CA that is now named Sectigo is still the largest SSL certificate issuing company with over 100 million issuances across users in 150 countries.
- In case you already have the Comodo SSL installed, there is no need to change anything. in case the one you purchased is from Papaki, you will still see Comodo as the issuer until the expiration.
- In case your Comodo SSL certificate must be reissued, after the reissuing, you will see that “Sectigo” is already the issuing authority. Do not worry because this does not cause any problems.
- If you purchased your Comodo SSL after January 14, 2019, you will see that Sectigo is the issuing authority.
- Francisco Partners completed the Comodo to Sectigo rebranding when 2019 ended. The period between that is transitional.
- The end user will not have any extra charges from the rebranding. In case Francisco Partners decides to readjust its price rates in the future, there is a respective price update for that.
- The variety of certificates do not have any price change that Comodo CA provided. They change is only with the rebranding.
- As pointed out by Sectigo, rebranding does not have an impact on their growing team around the world. The present knowledge remains the same and their goal is to provide new solutions that the future needs. Everything stays under the coverage of American Francisco Partners, which was established in 1999 and continues to evolve the investments of field technology.
- Sectigo did not change their corporate contact numbers. gradual changes were made in the emails. In case your message ends with comodoca.com, this will automatically go to their new email addresses.
What Might Change?
This is mainly a branding change, which is about anything that is linked to the Comodo CA branding transition to the logos and colours of Sectigo. The company is also using this to improve the website and interfaces while aiming to provide customer experience.
Two of the biggest differences you will see are Sectigo’s site seal and some names of the products. This is mainly the Comodo SSL/TLS certificate line which will now be called the Sectigo line. Others, such as PositiveSSL and InstantSSL will now become “powered by Sectigo.”
What Happens to Your Comodo CA Products?
The only noticeable change is the name change because all the Comodo CA products and the certificates are still going to work. In addition, each agreement and little security are still tight. That means prices will not change as well. There is no need to pay for a new website or logo. Everything is the same except for the product names. As you expect, Comodo SSL will now become Sectigo SSL. There are also products that will say ‘powered by Sectigo’ which did not carry a Comodo CA name.
They are going to issue:
- Extended Validation (EV) Certificates
- Domain Validation (DV) Certificates
- Organization Validation (OV) Certificates
- Multi-Domain Certificates (MDC)
- Wildcard Certificates
- Unified Communications Certificates (UCC)
Sectigo also maintains every extra service, compliance and accreditation standards that Comodo CA has. This has a TrustLogo site seal, ECC encryption, PCI scanning and others offered by Comodo CA.
Changes You Need to Make
As previously mentioned, the rebranding does not impact the way you manage and register Comodo/Sectigo SSL certificates done through OpenSRS. However, it is recommended that you make a couple of front-end changes as needed.
You can:
- Update the Comodo brand references to Sectigo on your website.
- In case you offer specific Comodo certificates to customers, please make sure to also update the product names.
In case you need help with this, Sectigo created a partner resource page using their updated logo, marketing assets, and brand guidelines.
Sectigo Does Not Have Its Own Roots
They do not have it yet. Including a root in a program is not easy nor difficult. That is because the root is a valuable and powerful commodity, and these programs are strict. Until Sectigo has added their root certificates, it continues to use its Comodo CA roots. It cannot be said when the intermediates will start the cross-signing. However, it will happen before Sectigo manages to get their new roots added to big root stores.
When Will the Changes Take Place?
The changes already happened, and it kicked off at the end of 2019. In case you have not seen any changes in the name or logo, you will see them soon. Comodo CA might still have a website, but that is only its name. All of it is now Sectigo.
Products That Comodo Group Offers
Any Comodo cybersecurity product that is not under the SSL/TSL and PKI coverage is still under the Comodo Group. These are products like the cWatch, Comodo Antivirus, and vulnerability scanners.
For the Website Visitors
There are no changes that visitors will experience on the websites that have a Comodo SSL certificate protection. Comodo was still the Certificate Authority until November 2019 before it finished rebranding.
SSL Certificate Owners
For the owners of Comodo SSL certificates, there is only a small impact. The certificates will still work on browsers and applications they trust. There will be no changes in the root structure, so there is no need to adjust or install new applications. The Trust logo should be replaced by the Sectigo Trust Seal.
The Legacy Will Continue
The legacy of Comodo CA will continue. SSL and security technology will only use cutting edge resources to ensure that customer data stays safe. Therefore, the quality is not going to change as well.
Sectigo and Comodo CA do not have a lot of differences between them in providing the best to customers.
