Tips for Setting Up SSL Premium Certificates

If you set up a SSL Premium certificate via IONOS, this will first be requested from the Sectigo certification authority. This checks the order. The domain authentication, company authentication and final telephone verification carried out by the certification authority as part of the validation can be done in IONOS and I'll be watching. Pay special attention to the status messages of the Sectigo customer support. They contain important information if you still need it.

Authentication of the domain

• The certification authority will send you an email with a confirmation link to the following addresses under your domain:

  administrator@ 
  hostmaster

  @
   

  admin

  @
   

  webmaster@ 
  postmaster@

  Please note:

  Please make sure that one of the above addresses is set up in your contract (e.g. hostmaster@your-domain-name) and that the emails are forwarded to your contact email address

  .

• Make sure that the Whois data is public (no private registration). This way Sectigo can easily recognize whether the information about the company in the Whois data matches that in the certificate order.
  Please note: If you register privately, we automatically create the email address hostmaster@ihredomain.com as the forwarding address to your customer email address, as Sectigo will most likely request confirmation from the owner by email.

• When ordering the certificate, make sure that the information on Reg-C matches the current information in the Whois data.
• Enter telephone and fax numbers in international format, e.g. +49.123456789.
• 
  The name of the domain holder must be exactly the same as the registered company name and the corporate form such as GmbH, AG or KgaA must also be specified in the domain name. If the corporate form is not registered, the address in the domain name must match the company address in the commercial register or in a non-official data source (e.g. Dun & Bradstreet). If the domain is registered to a person or another company, the holder must confirm the rights for the certificate.

Authentication of the Company

• Is the company properly registered and active? Sectigo searches the web for publicly available information about your company during corporate validation.
• If the company has been registered for less than three years, the business activity must be verifiable.
• Make sure that the telephone numbers you provide on your website or other publications on the net are available.
• The more consistent and transparent the information about your company, the better.

Verification by Phone

• Can the contact person take the call? For certificates with extended validation (EV), a validation call is made by the certification authority. The contact person must be employed directly at the ordering company, must accept the call personally and should have access to the specified email address during the call in order to carry out the final confirmation if necessary (acknowledgement of agreement).
• It is recommended that you inform your employees who answer phone calls that Sectigo may call for verification.
• Look for emails from GeoTrust to schedule a verification call. Respond to appropriate emails and be ready to take the call at the agreed time.