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Google and Symantec Chrome Resolution

By Johnny / February 20th, 2018


As a WHMCS customer, we want to make sure you're updated on the latest resolution between Google and Symantec and how this may affect SSL certificates you have purchased.

Last year, Symantec and Google agreed on a plan that would see Symantec migrate validation to a third party, and as a result, Chrome would continue to trust the Symantec family of brands (Symantec, GeoTrust & RapidSSL). Shortly after this agreement was reached, DigiCert announced its plan to acquire Symantec's Website Security Business by Q4 of 2017. It was concluded that DigiCert would take over the validation of all Symantec certificate brands on December 1st, 2017.

In light of this news, Google announced an updated plan on how Chrome will deal with certificates during this transition to the DigiCert validation infrastructure. Many speculated that Google would no longer trust any Symantec certificates by 2018, however this information is not accurate and is incomplete. Here are the details specific to the WHMCS community that has purchased or sold any of the Symantec brands of SSL directly from us.

Symantec continued to issue certificates from their original platform until December 1, 2017. Chrome will continue to trust these certificates issued before December 1, 2017, until September 13, 2018.

On December 1, 2017, DigiCert made the transition to their validation platform for all Symantec certificate brands and Chrome will trust those certificates. All brands will remain intact after the transition and the only difference is that they are now issued from the DigiCert platform.

What if I have a certificate that was issued on the old Symantec platform?

For most certificates, you don't need to do anything. However, if you have an existing certificate that was issued before December 1, 2017 and expires after September 13, 2018, you may need to take action. Here are the details and relevant dates you need to be aware of:


  • If the certificate was issued after December 1, 2017, you do not need to take any action. Since the certificate was issued under the DigiCert platform, the Chrome browser will trust this certificate and no reissue will be required.
  • If the certificate expires before September 13, 2018, you do not need to take any action. The Chrome browser will continue to trust the certificate until it expires.
  • If the certificate expires after September 13, 2018 and was issued before December 1, 2017, you will need to re-issue the certificate before September 13, 2018. For 1 year certificates, this means this only affects certificates purchased in the 6 week period between 2018-09-13 and 2017-12-01.
  • All re-issues for any Symantec brand certificates (Symantec, GeoTrust & RapidSSL) purchased through WHMCS are available free of charge. We have a guide for how to reissue a certificate here: Reissueing an SSL via the WHMCS Client Area

Most importantly, it is safe to continue to purchase and sell Symantec SSL certificates. Any certificates issued today are issued under the DigiCert platform, which is fully trusted by Google.

Resources to learn more about the Google and Symantec dispute:

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