Report Description

This report, much like our original certs and CAs report, focuses on issuers of SSL enabling certificates found on web servers. Unlike our original report, however, this report has a couple of key differences to it:

• Reports on top 100 CAs. The original report only paid attention to the major CAs at the time the report was produced. This report lists the top 100 CAs for the month. You will find here many self-signing organizations such as universities, telecommunications firms, etc.
• Uses issuer name as identifier. Our original report only counted a certificate towards an organization if we were able to prove, by virtue of verifying the key, that the organization in question actually signed the certificate. This had a notable problem with it - we don't always have the public key of the CA. In at least one case, a CA doesn't make their public key available unless you sign a license agreement.

  This report doesn't have that problem, since it doesn't verify the signatures of the certificates it finds, it only uses the issuer Organization Name to uniquely identify the issuing CA.

CA	December 1998 Count	December 1998 %	November 1998 Count	November 1998 %	Growth %
Verisign	50,976	67.87	54,192	68.70	-1.21
Thawte	15,399	20.50	16,061	20.36	0.69
Image Scandinavia	692	0.92	0	0.00	N/A
MATAV Rt	368	0.49	371	0.47	4.17
NetNames International	196	0.26	216	0.27	-4.70
BusinessNet Danmark	168	0.22	171	0.22	3.18
EUnet Ireland	164	0.22	165	0.21	4.38
Hiway Technologies, Inc.	162	0.22	409	0.52	-58.40
Webmaster	156	0.21	161	0.20	1.76
Slip.Net	144	0.19	154	0.20	-1.80
BareMetal Designs	122	0.16	122	0.15	5.02
CETI s.c.	119	0.16	122	0.15	2.44
CyberGate, Inc.	117	0.16	126	0.16	-2.48
BroadBand Communications, Inc.	113	0.15	111	0.14	6.91
SGH Internet Division	99	0.13	0	0.00	N/A
Media3	95	0.13	95	0.12	5.02
Web Hosting	89	0.12	81	0.10	15.39
BelSign NV	83	0.11	45	0.06	93.70
isb GmbH	79	0.11	79	0.10	5.02
Roka GmbH	78	0.10	79	0.10	3.69
DeZines Web Hosting	78	0.10	78	0.10	5.02
Netland Internet Services	75	0.10	77	0.10	2.29
Onyx Internet	70	0.09	69	0.09	6.54
Franke & Partner	70	0.09	71	0.09	3.54
i-dea	69	0.09	68	0.09	6.56
Internet Widgits Pty Ltd	69	0.09	79	0.10	-8.27
Communique, Inc.	64	0.09	65	0.08	3.40
TAT GmbH	63	0.08	62	0.08	6.71
NLnet Services B.V.	54	0.07	55	0.07	3.11
WebLink S.T.	53	0.07	53	0.07	5.02
test-CA	52	0.07	52	0.07	5.02
Nordwest.Net	51	0.07	56	0.07	-4.36
EnterAct, L.L.C.	51	0.07	52	0.07	3.00
Media3 Technologies L.L.C.	50	0.07	0	0.00	N/A
Marketing Factory Consulting GmbH	47	0.06	44	0.06	12.18
Indra's Net, Inc.	47	0.06	47	0.06	5.02
Southern Matrix International	44	0.06	54	0.07	-14.43
Inter Clear Service Ltd	44	0.06	36	0.05	28.36
MBnet Networking Inc.	43	0.06	44	0.06	2.63
Broadband Communications Inc.	43	0.06	43	0.05	5.02
Vest Internett A/S	42	0.06	42	0.05	5.02
Alleanza I.T.B.	41	0.05	40	0.05	7.64
PAZ - Editora Multimedia, Lda	40	0.05	40	0.05	5.02
ANET St. Louis	38	0.05	39	0.05	2.33
Domains-Worldwide	36	0.05	37	0.05	2.18
Wantree Internet	35	0.05	34	0.04	8.11
Thawte Consulting	35	0.05	38	0.05	-3.27
Covalent Technologies, Inc.	35	0.05	27	0.03	36.14
i-Planet	33	0.04	34	0.04	1.93
TC TrustCenter for Security in Data Networks GmbH	31	0.04	31	0.04	5.02
Kommunikationsysteme ShE GmbH	31	0.04	31	0.04	5.02
BizNet Communications, Inc.	30	0.04	30	0.04	5.02
BOS Internet Services	30	0.04	32	0.04	-1.54
Webkeepers Limited	29	0.04	0	0.00	N/A
For Demo Purposes Only	29	0.04	35	0.04	-12.98
Internet Port Hamburg	28	0.04	28	0.04	5.02
Aktiv!NETZ Internet Presentations GmbH	28	0.04	28	0.04	5.02
Internet Marketing Services, LLC	26	0.03	25	0.03	9.22
Resource Marketing, Inc.	25	0.03	24	0.03	9.40
ProSalg as	25	0.03	25	0.03	5.02
IndyWeb Inc.	25	0.03	25	0.03	5.02
Saarbruecker Zeitung Verlag und Druckerei GmbH	24	0.03	24	0.03	5.02
PiK-Net Sieci Rozlegle sp. z o.o.	24	0.03	38	0.05	-33.67
the Internet Outlet	23	0.03	23	0.03	5.02
Unknown	23	0.03	25	0.03	-3.38
Ukrsotsbank, Dnepropetrovsk office	23	0.03	0	0.00	N/A
IPS Seguridad CA	23	0.03	22	0.03	9.79
CompuSource (Pty) Ltd	23	0.03	43	0.05	-43.83
WebNexus Communications	22	0.03	25	0.03	-7.58
Internet Marketing Services, Inc.	22	0.03	22	0.03	5.02
HAL interactive d.o.o.	22	0.03	22	0.03	5.02
Cottage Software Inc.	22	0.03	21	0.03	10.02
Sistema S.A	21	0.03	22	0.03	0.25
N2K, Inc	21	0.03	21	0.03	5.02
CyberGate Hosting	21	0.03	0	0.00	N/A
Warp Link GmbH	20	0.03	20	0.03	5.02
Internet Direct, Inc.	20	0.03	91	0.12	-76.92
worldSpice Technologies Inc.	19	0.03	19	0.02	5.02
dgSoft Internet Sevices	19	0.03	19	0.02	5.02
WebYes Inc.	19	0.03	15	0.02	33.02
Walrus Internet	19	0.03	20	0.03	-0.23
Netlink, Inc.	19	0.03	20	0.03	-0.23
NETCOM On-Line Communication Services	19	0.03	0	0.00	N/A
MFM Communication Software, Inc.	19	0.03	19	0.02	5.02
KSI	19	0.03	20	0.03	-0.23
CHT Software Service GmbH	19	0.03	19	0.02	5.02
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	18	0.02	18	0.02	5.02
ICEnet	18	0.02	0	0.00	N/A
Digital Visions	18	0.02	18	0.02	5.02
CertiSign Certificadora Digital Ltda	18	0.02	17	0.02	11.20
CLS Internet Services GmbH	18	0.02	19	0.02	-0.51
Rifin d.o.o.	17	0.02	17	0.02	5.02
Internet CZ (EUnet Czechia)	17	0.02	17	0.02	5.02
Muenchenticket	16	0.02	16	0.02	5.02
Internet Solutions	16	0.02	16	0.02	5.02
ITBS On Line	16	0.02	16	0.02	5.02
Human Interaction snc	16	0.02	16	0.02	5.02
Earthnet, Inc.	16	0.02	16	0.02	5.02
UUNET Internet Africa	15	0.02	17	0.02	-7.34
Sexy-Eyes	15	0.02	0	0.00	N/A

Note: Readers are cautioned that the Growth percentages are based on a CA's market share penetration rather than the absolute number of certificates we detected. Thus, it is possible for the number of certificates to increase, while the growth is actually a negative value.