In recent years, companies around the world continue to invest more in their information security. There is a dependence of commercial success on the correct and secure placement of data on the network. The shift to remote work forces firms to pay attention to the information security tools used. Naturally, the market for SSL security is also growing: there is a quantitative and qualitative growth of those companies that are transferring their sites and servers to a secure HTTPS connection.
Of course, the spread of the COVID-19 virus has affected the economies of almost all countries and industries. Due to the pandemic situation since the beginning of 2020, there is a slight lag in the growth of SSL certificates compared to the same period last year, which affected most countries.
For example, in Russia in February of this year, the number of SSL certificates amounted to 1,476,822, in March it fell to 1,297,920, but already in April a slight increase began, and the total number increased to 1,325,999 certificates, which indicates if not about full recovery, then at least a tendency to return to normal functioning.
Despite the complexity of forecasting in the current situation, over the past 4 years, significant growth dynamics of SSL-certificates continues to be traced in all countries.
Number of SSL certificates by country (according to Netcraft). The data does not include self-signed certificates.
The USA continues to hold the lead in the number of sites. This year, Japan took the third place in the list of traditional leaders of the largest countries in Western Europe. Also this year, China entered the top 10 countries, closing the list of leaders. Russia continues to occupy the 9th line of the rating, leaving behind Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Spain.
Features of the Russian SSL Certificate Market
According to the analytical resource StatOnline.ru, in April 2020, 1,440,000 SSL certificates were active in the .RU zone, and 150,000 in the RF zone. The number of valid SSL certificates (that is, issued by certification centers) significantly exceeds the number of invalid ones - 1,470,000 thousand certificates in total issued to domains in .RU and. zones. The number of invalid and self-signed is 125,000.
The top 5 certification authorities by the number of SSL issued in .RU today include: Let's Encrypt (960,000), CloudFlare Inc (110,000), DigiCert Inc (85,000), GlobalSign (75,000) and Sectigo Limited (55,000). Let's Encrypt has a significant advantage due to the ability to receive free SSL certificates in this CA for up to 90 days.
.RU has the largest number of certificates valid for less than a year (81%) and 1 year (18%). The most popular format for using one SSL certificate for one domain is over 1 million. But multi-domain certificates (SAN) are also in demand. So, in total, the number of those in 3-10 domains is about 80 thousand.
“Digital security is becoming more and more relevant in the modern world, both for the average user and for any company. Despite the restrictions in a pandemic around the world, we note the growing importance of online communications - and, as a result, the increased interest in information protection and, in particular, SSL certificates among Russian companies, ”says Dmitry Ryzhikov, General Director of GMO GlobalSign Russia.
“The number of new SSL certificates is growing every year, which is important for protecting user data, and this trend will only intensify. The reasons for the growth are not only the economic conditions that are driving businesses to move online, but others as well. For example, the growth of the mobile Internet. For example, mobile operators use HTTP traffic by displaying ads on it. This further encourages domain owners to install SSL.
Together with our partner, the oldest certification center GlobalSign, we will continue to provide certificates to everyone in the Russian market, including an SSL certificate for one year, complete with a domain and hosting, "comments Alexey Korolyuk, CEO of the hosting provider and domain registrar REG.RU.