WELCOME

This third issue of our DigiCert Partner News finds seemingly everyone on the planet obsessed with the looming deadline of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. We’ve got something to say about that (scroll down), but first, thank you for taking time to catch up with us.

About DigiCert 

DigiCert has a strong industry reputation for being fast, reliable, and responsive. We’re known for our exceptional customer support, industry-leading OCSP response times, and award-winning PKI and IoT management platforms. But enough about us. What’s in it for you? Our goal is to help you leverage our strengths to drive revenue and increase margins. Learn more about DigiCert.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

GDPR

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (known as the GDPR) regulates the processing of personal data relating to individuals in the EU. Although its rules don’t apply to data processed by an individual for purely personal reasons or for activities carried out in one's home (provided there is no connection to a professional or commercial activity), it does impact digital certificate and authentication industries.

Preview: 2018 Partner Roundtables

We’re excited to begin the 2018 cycle of annual Partner Roundtable events, which are an exclusive benefit for Platinum Elite and Platinum partners. These invitation-only events are held by region, working eastward around the planet:

• Americas: Miami, USA 11–15 June 2018
• Europe, Middle East & Africa: Reykjavik, Iceland 17–21 September 2018
• Asia/Pacific: Osaka, Japan 12–16 November 2018

This year’s agenda is packed with value, including presentations by DigiCert leadership, product roadmap discussions, CA/Browser Forum updates, and updates from authentication, support, development/engineering, marketing, and branding – plus awards for our top-performing partners. Talk to your account manager if you’re interested in achieving a more profitable tier of partnership (and all the associated benefits).

Confidently Clearing Reissuance Hurdles 

Many SSL/TLS certificates issued from the Symantec infrastructure will require reissuance by certain deadlines to ensure continuity for your customers. We’ve worked tirelessly with our partners and direct customers to reissue the overwhelming bulk of certificates issued before 1 June 2016 and expiring on/after 15 March 2018. Some of you have enjoyed the benefit of using our Bulk Reissue tool, which helps process certificate enrollment in bulk prior to validation, and can process around 500 certificates per hour. The tool speeds the throughput time of reissuance so you can reinstall the certificate using your own process.

Now, we’re working to help resolve and reissue the next certificates needing reissuance (issued before 1 December 2017); As noted by Google, the first impact to these certificates “will coincide with the First Canary [release of Chrome 70 on 20 July 2018], reaching a steadily widening audience as the release hits Beta [around 13 September 2018] and then ultimately Stable [around 16 October 2018]”. We encourage you to complete all replacements before the First Canary release for Chrome 70 in July; for targeting that looming date, consider prioritizing certificates for any domains which appear in the Alexa 1 Million.

Of course, please recall that all certificates must go through full validation. Given the volume of certificates requiring reissuance, individual certificates may not be (re)issued instantly. To avoid risk or delays, please look to the continued resources and outreach we’ve made available, including our knowledgebase articles, webinars and more. If you have questions or specific needs, contact your account manager without delay. Learn more.

TECH CORNER

210-Day Renewal Window

On 26 April 2018, we increased our renewal window for 1-year renewals on all certificates issued before 1 December 2017 across the GeoTrust, Symantec, RapidSSL, and Thawte brands. These certificates can now be renewed up to 210 days before expiration. This extended renewal window is limited to 1-year certificate renewals due to a recent CA/Browser Forum Baseline Requirements change, which prevents CAs from issuing certificates with lifetimes greater than 825 days. Upon reissuance of these certificates, we will round up the remaining days on your renewed certificate to the next full number of months. Read more here.

Changes to Threat Detection and Search Services

On 4 May 2018, we made a few feature announcements stating that we’re improving some features while ending others. These included behind-the-scenes service changes to the Malware Scanning and Vulnerability Assessment features in Symantec's SSL/TLS and SafeSite offerings, End-of-Sale for GeoTrust Anti-Malware Scanning, and End-of-Life for the Symantec Seal-in-Search functionality. Look for an upcoming email from us carrying the subject line “Upcoming EOL and service improvements”, which we’ll also be posting to our blog shortly.

USEFUL LINKS

• Help keep our partnership healthy with our Partner Best Practices and our Partner Guide to Certificate Validation Management
• Visit our Partner Blog
• Find platform release details in our Product Activity Log
• Contact SSL Partner Support