Namecheap.com has announced that it is offering current Symantec customers an opportunity to replace all single or multi-domain SSL certificates with a free matching Comodo SSL. The new SSL will cover the remaining time on their current SSL from Symantec.
Industry experts speculate this to be a public relations move by Comodo to capture the Symantec market, as Namecheap claims that it is making the offer in response to Google’s recent announcement to discontinue the trusted status for Symantec SSLs. As a result of this change, Chrome browsers will stop displaying the ‘green bar’ for sites using Symantec SSLs and will flag these sites as untrusted.
Namecheap says that it deeply believes in online privacy, security, freedom and equal treatment for all Internet and would help to ease concerns from current Symantec customers.
Customers can go to Namecheap’s website and get a free Comodo SSL to be used on the same domain as their existing Symantec single or multi domain SSL. No credit card or payment is necessary to make this switch, nor will any long-term commitment be required.
Namecheap also announced that on sign up, Comodo will issue a new certificate for 24 or 36 months, depending on the level of validation, for each SSL. At the end of the free period, users will be able to extend their SSL or they may walk away with no further obligation and the certificate will be revoked.