Symantec Only Major Certificate Authority to Show Market Share Growth Year-over-Year, Increasing More than 2 Percent

While other major CA’s market share declined year-over-year, February Netcraft Survey shows Symantec’s overall unit market share grew to 42.1 percent


MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – – Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced that unit market share of its SSL Certificates grew by more than 2 percent year-over-year according to the February Netcraft survey. The Netcraft Secure Server Survey for February 2011 reports that all SSL Certificates under the Symantec brand make up 42.1 percent of the SSL market, 50 percent more than the nearest competitor who has only 28.6 percent of SSL unit volume. In addition, Symantec’s unit market share of Organizational and Extended Validation certificates make up more than half of all high assurance certificates in the market.

“Our success in the SSL Certificate market is unmatched by anyone else in the industry, and our lead in market share is growing,” said Tim Callan, head of Trust Services Product Marketing at Symantec. “Our customers and partners recognize that we offer the most comprehensive product lineup, combining strong encryption, highest quality technical support, innovation and value-added services – most recently with website malware scanning. Excelling in these areas has enabled us to remain the undisputed SSL leader for more than 15 years.”

The Netcraft February 2011 report found a total of 1,660,040 distinct valid third-party SSL Certificates, of which 698,992 certificates are provided by Symantec and its brands. The report noted that Symantec gained certificates and market share in the high assurance part of the SSL market, leading the growth of the Extended Validation (EV SSL) market and in the Organizationally Validated (OV) market.

Having acquired the first CA to provide SSL Certificates, Symantec continues its strong position in the market by offering customers more value-added services than the competition. VeriSign® SSL Certificates enable customers to rest assured that they are protecting their online transactions and communications with the industry’s strongest encryption. VeriSign SSL customers also receive daily malware scans and seal-in-search, which enable the VeriSign seal to be displayed within search engine results to boost traffic to their sites.

Website owners and operators can try VeriSign SSL on their live websites for 30 days free without any obligation to buy. Symantec is also enabling businesses that don’t require SSL encryption to experience the benefits of the VeriSign® Trust Seal free for 60 days.

Symantec is the leading provider of SSL and EV SSL protection worldwide, with nearly 70 percent of the EV SSL market. More than 100,000 websites display the VeriSign seal by deploying VeriSign SSL, VeriSign EV SSL, or VeriSign Trust Seal solutions. As the most popular and recognized security mark in the world, the VeriSign seal is viewed by Internet users more than half a billion times in a single day.

About Symantec

Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help consumers and organizations secure and manage their information-driven world. Our software and services protect against more risks at more points, more completely and efficiently, enabling confidence wherever information is used or stored. More information is available at www.symantec.com.