SSL Certificates

Networking and Information Security provides SSL Host Certificates to foster use of public key technologies and provide a more secure computing environment at Texas A&M.

Host certificates secure communications to and from an Internet host, and allow systems to verify the host's identity. To fulfill these functions, host certificates must be signed by a certificate authority supported by the user's internet application or operating system. If the certificate authority is not supported by the user's application or operating system, you will need to import the certificate authority's root certificate so that it can validate certificates installed on hosts on the Internet. Otherwise, users will receive an a validation error.

The certificate authorities listed below are used by many campus hosts and supported by most internet applications and operating systems. Click on a link below to review information on certificate requests and root certificates.

Certificate Authorities

• Thawte, Inc.
  A very established certificate authority that is based in Cape Town, South Africa. 1 year certificates start at $186.75.
• GoDaddy
  Located in Arizona, 1 year certificates starting at $29.99.
• IPS Certification Authority, S.L.
  Certificate authority located in Madrid, Spain. Provides free certificates to .edu domains. Be aware, the root certificate for this authority is only recognized by Microsoft Windows (Internet Explorer, Safari), Apple Mac OS X (Safari), and Firefox.
• TAMU Certificate Authority
  Texas A&M University Certificate Authority. Provides free locally signed certificates. To use this certificate authority, you will have to install Texas A&M's root certificate in all browsers and operating systems that will be accessing your site.

If you have any questions, please send an email to pki@tamu.edu or call Help Desk Central at 979.845.8300.

Last Updated: Wed, Jul 1, 2009