Differences Between SSL Certificate Types

Huawei Cloud SCM provides Organization Validation (OV) and Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificates.

This topic describes the differences between different types of certificates.

Special enterprises cannot apply for OV or EV certificates. For example, military units, some government agencies, and national security departments.

To apply for OV and EV certificates, organizations must verify their identity through unified social credit code published on the national official website. While, special enterprises cannot verify their organization identity because there is no related details on that website.

Certificate Types

On the SCM console, you can buy DV, OV, and EV SSL certificates. Different types of certificates are recommended for different scenarios to meet varied trust and security strength requirements. For details, see

On the SCM console, you can buy OV, and EV SSL certificates. Different types of certificates are recommended for different scenarios to meet varied trust and security strength requirements. For details, see Differences between certificate types.

**Table 1** Differences between certificate types
Certificate Type	Security	Validation Requirements	Application Scenario	Supported Certificate Authority	Review Duration
OV	High	The CA follows a standard process to validate the organization identity and the domain name ownership.	Service websites of education agencies, government departments, Internet companies, applications of small and medium-sized enterprises, and e-commerce platforms For example, Apple Store and WeChat applet.	DigiCert	3 to 5 working days
EV	Highest	CAs will verify the organization identity and the domain name ownership.	Websites of large enterprises, institutions, and organizations with strict security requirements For example, financial institutions, insurance agencies, and banks.	DigiCert	7 to 10 working days

Certificate Authorities

Currently, you can buy SSL certificates issued by DigiCert only in CCM. For details, see the following table.

**Table 2** Certificate authorities
Certificate Authority	Description	SSL OV Certificates Supported	SSL EV Certificates Supported
DigiCert	DigiCert, formerly Symantec, is the world's largest CA. It provides services for more than 100,000 customers in over 150 countries and regions. Advantages: High security, stability, and compatibility. Suitable for digital transactions with high security requirements and widely used by financial institutions.	Yes Single-domain, multiple-domain, and wildcard-domain certificates supported	Yes Single-domain and multi-domain certificates supported

Promotion activities

Single domain names (using domain name www.a.com and root domain name a.com as an example)
Wildcard domain name (using domain names *.a.com and *.a.b.com as an example)

Domain Name Types Supported in SCM

The following table describes how different types of SSL certificates are used for domain names.

**Table 3** Domain types
Domain Type	Description
Single domain	Only a single domain can be associated with an SSL certificate. For example, example.com.
Multiple domains	Multiple domain names can be associated with an SSL certificate. You can use a multi-domain certificate for up to 250 domain names. A wildcard domain name is allowed only by OV or OV pro multi-domain certificates. Other types of multi-domain certificates can only associate with multiple single domain names You can associate a multi-domain certificate with multiple domain names at different time points. For example, if you purchase a multi-domain certificate with three domain names, you can associate it with two domain names when applying for the certificate, and associate it with the last domain name after the certificate is issued. The number of domain names a multi-domain certificate can protect depends on the domain quantity you configure when you buy the certificate. If you have more domain names to protect after the purchase completes, purchase another certificate for them.
Wildcard domain	Only one wildcard domain can be associated with an SSL certificate. Domain names having multiple wildcard characters, such as ..example.com, are not supported. Only one wildcard character is allowed in a wildcard domain name, for example, *.example.com, which may include domain names a.example.com, b.example.com, and more, but does not include a.a.example.com.

Cryptographic Algorithms Supported in SCM

SSL certificates issued by CAs in CCM support RSA and ECC algorithms.

Rivest–Shamir–Adleman (RSA) is an asymmetric cryptographic algorithm that is widely used around the world. It has the best compatibility among the three algorithms and supports mainstream browsers and all-platform OSs. Generally, RSA uses a 2048-bit or 3072-bit key.
Elliptical curve cryptography (ECC) features faster encryption, higher efficiency, and lower server resource consumption compared with RSA. ECC is being promoted in mainstream browsers and is becoming a next-generation mainstream algorithm. Generally, ECC uses a 256-bit key.

For more details, see Cryptographic algorithms supported.

**Table 4** Cryptographic Algorithms Supported in SCM
Certificate Authority	Certificate Type	Domain Type	Cryptographic Algorithm
DigiCert	OV	Single domain	RSA_2048, RSA_3072, and RSA_4096
		Multiple domains	RSA_2048, RSA_3072, and RSA_4096
		Wildcard domain	RSA_2048, RSA_3072, and RSA_4096
	OV Pro	Single domain	RSA_2048, RSA_3072, RSA_4096, EC_P256, and EC_P384
		Multiple domains	RSA_2048, RSA_3072, RSA_4096, EC_P256, and EC_P384
		Wildcard domain	RSA_2048, RSA_3072, RSA_4096, EC_P256, and EC_P384
	EV	Single domain	RSA_2048, RSA_3072, and RSA_4096
	EV	Multiple domains	RSA_2048, RSA_3072, and RSA_4096
	EV Pro	Single domain	RSA_2048, RSA_3072, RSA_4096, EC_P256, and EC_P384
	EV Pro	Multiple domains	RSA_2048, RSA_3072, RSA_4096, EC_P256, and EC_P384