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The Thawte Trusted Site Seal

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What is the Thawte Trusted Site Seal?

The Thawte Trusted Site Seal is a small graphic, suitable for displaying on a website as a visible signal that the site is using a Thawte digital certificate to secure data transmitted between its visitors' browsers and its server(s).

The graphic itself shows the wording "Secured by thawte", a padlock, and the current date -- showing that the certificate to which it refers is valid as of today's date.

A click on the graphic produces a pop-up window showing details about the certificate; the dates between which it is valid, the server name to which it was issued and (in the case of a fully-authenticated certificate) the organisation to which the certificate was issued.

Who is eligible to display the Seal?

Any person or organisation who currently holds a Thawte server certificate may display the Seal on the site to which the certificate was issued.

How do I display the Seal on my site?

You need to request that the Seal is activated for your certificate (this is not automatic). You will need your order number and password; armed with this, you should go here and click on the "Get your thawte Trusted Site Seal" link on the left-hand side of the page. You will be walked through the process and then given some JavaScript to paste into your site at the point(s) at which you want the Seal to be displayed.

Does it matter what type of certificate I have?

No. As long as your certificate is a server certificate then you can use the Site Seal. The only difference will be in the information displayed when someone clicks on the seal; this is dependent on the information contained in the certificate itself, so will differ depending on whether you have a SuperCert, SSL Web Server certificate, SSL123 certificate etc.

I'm using a different host name for my secure server to that which I use for my main web site; can I still display the Seal?

You can't display the Trusted Site Seal itself, but you can display the Second Tier Seal -- this is for use if, for example, your main web site is at www.herald.co.uk but your secure site is at secure.herald.co.uk. Note that the two sites must be under the same domain; if, for instance, your main web site is at www.example.com and your certificate was issued to secure.example.co.uk then you will not be able to display the Site Seal or the Second Tier Seal on www.example.com.

More information about the Second Tier Seal can be found here.

I'm using a shared certificate; can I display the Seal?

Unfortunately not. You can only display the Seal if you are using a certificate issued to you personally, or to your own organisation. If you are using a shared certificate -- for instance, one which has been issued to your ISP -- then you are not entitled to display the Site Seal. (You may mention on your site that you are using a Thawte certificate to secure data transmitted to your site.)

I don't have a Thawte certificate. Can I display the Seal?

No. The Trusted Site Seal is intended for display only on sites which have a currently-valid Thawte certificate. It is not a general "trusted site" emblem, nor is it a signifier of any verification of a site's business practices.

Are there different options for size or colour to fit better within my site's design?

The colour scheme is not changeable, but there are three different size options available; a larger square version, a smaller square version and a rectangular version (long and thin). If you require the Seal to be displayed in a different language, this is also possible; the Seal graphic has been translated into eighteen different languages.

My Seal is displaying as "invalid certificate", but I'm sure it shouldn't be...

There are two possible reasons for this.

By far the more common reason is that the certificate for which the Trusted Site Seal was active has been revoked (probably because it has been reissued), or has expired (and has possibly been renewed). In either case, the Seal needs to be reactivated for the new certificate which has replaced the old one; follow the procedure listed above, using your new order number and password.

A less common reason is because you are trying to display the Seal on a site which does not have a valid Thawte certificate at present. We sometimes see this effect if people are using the same data directory to serve data for more than one server name. For example, let us assume that Widgets Inc. has two separate sites, www.widgets.com and www.widgets.co.uk. They have one valid certificate issued for www.widgets.co.uk, and are displaying the Site Seal on that site. However, if they are displaying the same content on www.widgets.com, including the Javascript which displays the Site Seal graphic, then on www.widgets.com the Site Seal will display as invalid, as they do not have a valid certificate for that site. In such situations we recommend mentioning Thawte on the front page of the site (and elsewhere), but only displaying the actual Site Seal on the pages secured with the certificate concerned.

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Last updated: March 24th 2008
Last checked: October 14th 2009

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