What is a Multidomain SSL Certificate?

SSL certificates are data files thanks to which information about a company or an individual is linked to a cryptographic key. Installed on a server, this certificate ensures the security of a connection between a browser and a web server. It activates the ‘https’ protocol and a padlock icon shows up in the search bar.

What can be secured with an SSL Certificate?

SSL certificates are useful to protect such sensitive data as:

• Customer registration and identification data on a website (name, address, password, email, phone number, etc.);
• Customers’ payment information (credit card, bank details, etc.);
• Data entry forms present on the website;
• Documents the customers can download;
• Transactions;
• Digital memory.

How to differentiate between the various types of SSL certificates?

More and more companies resort to multidomain SSL certificates and to other types of certificates available for various reasons. Generally speaking, SSL certificates are a means of:

• Maintaining a high level of data confidentiality;
• Reinforcing the confidence of Internet users towards websites by proving their legitimacy.

There exist some extended validation SSL certificates for businesses thanks to which it is possible to:

• Verify the legal and physical existence of the company;
• Check that the information conveyed about this company (its address, for instance) is accurate;
• Check that the domain name does, in fact, belong to this company;
• Check that the company has given its permission to generate the certificate;
• Limit the risk of being targeted by a phishing attack.

As for the multidomain SSL, it is useful to companies holding a list of addresses and wishing to cover them all under one single certificate.

What are the Advantages of Multidomain SSL?

Available in a regular and in a business version, a multidomain SSL certificate can prove more cost-effective than multiplying single-address contracts. Gandi offers four package sizes to protect respectively:

• A maximum of 3 domains;
• A maximum of 5 domains;
• A maximum of 10 domains;
• A maximum of 20 domains.

Each address counts as a domain and will be deducted from the total number. Thus, it is possible to protect ‘www.example.co.uk’, ‘shop.example.co.uk’, ‘www.otherexample.com’, ‘shop.otherexample.com’, etc. all at the same time.

Whenever necessary, you may regenerate the certificate to modify the amount or the addresses themselves. This allows you to add or to remove secondary addresses should you wish to do so. The main address, however, is used to generate the CSR and therefore can’t be modified.

Regenerating a certificate is a simple operation. This may be done automatically, or the process can be personalised: thanks to this option, you will be able to select new alternate addresses for your multidomain SSL certificate.