Verisign Spam
Some people never learn. If you spam me, there is a good chance that I WILL mock you on the internet. Sure my site gets all of 2 readers a week, but they will know how big of a jackass you are.
Here is the spam that I got from Verisign:
—— Forwarded Message
From: “Borgches, Sergio” sborgches@verisign.com
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:39:24 -0500
To: Webmaster Webmaster@lightedge.com
Subject: Ineffective EV SSL Certificate on domain: my.lightedge.com
Dear Webmaster
Ineffective EV SSL Certificate on domain: my.lightedge.com
Are you aware that the Extended Validation (EV) SSL Certificate that
you have on your domain does not display the standard EV interface
that your customers are expecting on Firefox 3.5?
Mozilla launched the latest version of their browser, on 2 July 2009.
Not only has it won the Guinness World Record for more than a
million downloads in a short time, but Firefox 3 currently accounts
for over 20% of global browser market share.
Instead of displaying the GREEN address bar, which reassures visitors
that your site is safe and authentic, it is displaying the BLUE
address bar, which means they do not get the full benefit of EV.
(Please see screenshot attached).
A rapidly growing portion of your Web site visitors are not seeing
the green address bar. It has shown in research that users look for
the green address bar on the sites with which they transact and that
77% of users will hesitate to complete the transaction on a site that
once had the green address bar but no longer does (TecEd study,
2007).
VeriSign is the leader in EV SSL security and we would like to assist
you to rectify this problem by offering you a replacement EV SSL
Certificate AT NO CHARGE! Our Extended Validation SSL Certificates
trigger the green bar in Firefox 3.5. We work closely with the
browser manufacturers to make sure that our customers’ security is
always world class and that there are no interruptions in your online
security.
To take advantage of this offer, and to make sure that your address
bar is GREEN in all current EV-enabled browsers please contact me and
I’ll help you switch to VeriSign, the worldwide leader in trusted
Internet communications and commerce.
Yours faithfully
Sergio Borgches
Inside Sales Executive
VeriSign Security Services
Toll Free: 866.893.6565 option 1 ext 2296
First off Sergio, the webmaster address? Really? Like anyone really reads that stuff anymore. Half the time these go to an admin buried deep in cubeland who has filters that take webmaster, hostmaster and yourmom@domain.com and filter them into the bit bucket. I have these same filters, I’m that guy! I just happened to be going through my spam folder (yes, it was caught as spam Sergio!) when I found this little gem. I just couldn’t pass it up. Here’s my advice Sergio, if you really wanted to get someone’s attention, you CALL them.
Now, besides the fact that you didn’t call, this is a bit like ambulance chasing if you ask me. And I can’t say that I really blame you for it, but it still makes you a scum bag. The issue isn’t with the certificate. The certificate is STILL an Extended Validation (EV) certificate that shows up with the green bar in just about every browser that is out there except for Firefox 3.5. Why? Well its a bug in the browser. More details can be found here. If you happen to have a Verisign, Thawte or I think GeoTrust, you’re fine. This just seems to be an issue with a few providers. Globalsign being one of those. But never fear, addons.mozilla.com is also protected by a GlobalSign EV certificate so they are well aware of this issue. But instead of taking the high road and just putting out a press release saying that Verisign customers are not affected by the latest EV certificate issues in FireFox 3.5, you took the lowest road of them all and sent out spam spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt. Way to keep it classy!
So this Sergio is why I’m not going to swing my business over to you. Sure you’re just trying to get a leg up on the competition. But the methods in which you are doing it make me want to work with GlobalSign even more.
