Since the year 2004 I’m a member of the Web of Trust from Thawte and have been giving trust points to a number of people. To spread the web of trust we did also signing parties at some universities and schools. This era has come to an end! Thawte decided to discontinue the personal e-mail certificate and the web of trust services. Thawte recently published that security compliance requirements have become more restrictive, while the technology infrastructure necessary to meet these requirements has expanded greatly. The effort Thawte had been taking lately to adapt their services to these changes is now for Thawte to high to be taken. As a result Thawte Personal email certificates and the web of trust will be discontinued on November 16, 2009 and will no longer be available after that date.
Previously signed email messages will no longer be valid. To ensure your continued e-mail security, thawte made a special arrangement with VeriSign to replace the personal email certificate. VeriSign’s exclusive offers FREE 1-year replacement personal email certificate – a $19.95 value. This offer will be open for 2 months after the service is discontinued and will no longer be available after January 16, 2010.
I admit that I will no longer be using email certificates because currently I have no motivation to buy such a certificate for my personal and commercial use. Maybe one time there will be another secure and trustworthy but nonetheless free email certificate on the market.
For more information and source of this blog post please visit the thawte knowledge center.
