Abolishment of "Organizational Unit" in certificates as of August 2022

The regulatory body for public-key certificates on the Internet, the CA/Browser Forum, is constantly striving to improve the security requirements for certificates in such a way that they can withstand the current dangers on the Internet.

Therefore, a new requirement concerning naming was adopted last year. This has an impact on the issuing of future SwissSign certificates. As from 1 September 2022 onwards, it is no longer permitted to include a department name (technically: attribute "Organizational Unit" - OU) in SSL/TLS certificates.

What this means for SwissSign customers?
The option to include the department name in addition to the organization name in certificates is no longer available. We ask customers who have previously made use of this option to refrain from doing so with immediate effect. From the beginning of August 2022, no more certificates will be issued that contain the OU attribute. For customers who already waive the OU attribute, no action is required.

Further information can be found here.