GlobalSign® Corporate Information

Virgin Holidays Adopts GlobalSign’s EV SSL Technology to Provide Customers with Maximum Trust and Assurance

Global brand switches to GlobalSign’s highest assurance Extended Validation (EV) SSL in time for expected seasonal sales peak.

Portsmouth, NH – 13 January, 2010 – GlobalSign (www.globalsign.com), one of the longest established Certification Authorities (CA) and specialists in SSL Certificate security, today announced that Virgin Holidays is the latest major brand to implement GlobalSign’s Extended Validation (EV) SSL technology to secure its retail web site www.virginholidays.com - the second Virgin brand to choose GlobalSign’s most advanced SSL Certificate, after Virgin Atlantic adopted the technology on its website in May last year. EV SSL activates the browser’s green address bar in IE7 and 8, Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome and Safari representing the most significant advancement in how consumers identify a secure site since the inception of SSL over 10 years ago.

In addition to turning the address bar green, websites using EV SSL feature the standard SSL “padlock”, as well as displaying advanced security and identity information, including the organization name behind the website and the issuing SSL Certification Authority. These additional features provide visitors with visual reassurance that the site they are visiting is legitimate and that their personal information is fully secure - a clear business differentiator for online companies taking preventative action against today’s relentless phishing attacks. The adoption of EV SSL by Virgin Holidays clearly shows their customers a strong ongoing commitment to online safety and security

By choosing to upgrade their existing SSL Certificate to GlobalSign’s EV SSL from the more traditional type of Organization Validated SSL, Virgin Holidays will not only protect its brand from copy cat websites and safeguard customers’ from phishing attacks, but will elevate their site image, inevitably leading to reduced shopping basket abandonment rates and increased sales conversions; a win-win situation for both Virgin Holidays and its online customers. Virgin Holidays’ adoption of EV SSL is also perfectly timed to coincide with the travel industry’s expected seasonal January sales peak.

“Virgin Holidays chose to implement EV SSL from GlobalSign due to their competitive prices and more importantly speed of issuance”, said Maria Carlin, IT Infrastructure Team Leader, Virgin Holidays. “We wanted to ensure that our website was completely secure for our customers. Displaying the green bar through the use of EV SSL achieves this”.

As previously commented by Alex New, IT Architect at Virgin Atlantic; “Virgin Atlantic made the decision to migrate their existing standard level SSL Certificates to the latest Extended Validation SSL to provide the highest level of identity trust available to their online customers. GlobalSign were able to deliver the platform and EV SSL products that meet our operational and security requirements and have helped make the switch to EV SSL Certificates straightforward.”

“With the number of phishing attacks constantly on the rise, it is essential for online brands to use the latest technology available to secure their websites. We are very pleased to welcome Virgin Holidays on board after Virgin Atlantic’s successful adoption of the glowing green bar last year.” said Paul Tourret, Managing Director, GlobalSign Ltd, “With another Virgin company switching to GlobalSign’s EV SSL, the internationally recognized Virgin brand is demonstrating its dedication to ensuring its customers’ online security”.

For more information on EV SSL and to see a GlobalSign Extended SSL certificates in operation please visit http://www.globalsign.com/ssl/buy-ssl-certificates/extended-validation-ssl/.

About EV SSL Certificates

GlobalSign is the preferred EV SSL supplier for leading ecommerce web sites – including Virgin Holidays, Virgin Atlantic, BT Shop, Dabs.com, and GoCompare.com. The criteria for issuing EV Certificates (the EV Certificate Guidelines) are produced by the CA/Browser Forum, an organization whose members include leading Certification Authorities and browser vendors, as well as representatives from the legal and audit sectors. GlobalSign and VeriSign are two such members.

About Virgin Holiday

Founded in 1985, Virgin Holidays is the UK’s leading worldwide holiday company, offering bespoke holiday experiences throughout the world, from Mumbai and Malaysia to Antigua and Alaska. For further information visit http://www.virginholidays.co.uk/

About GMO GlobalSign
Established in 1996 and as a WebTrust accredited public certificate authority, GlobalSign offers publicly trusted SSL Certificates, EV SSL, Managed SSL Services, S/MIME email security and Code Signing for use on all platforms including mobile devices. Its Trusted Root solution uses the widely embedded GlobalSign Root CA certificates to provide immediate PKI trust for Microsoft Certificate Services and internal PKI, eliminating the costs of using untrusted Root Certificates. Its partnership with Adobe to provide Certified Document Services (CDS) enables secure digitally signed PDF documents, certified transcripts and e-invoices.  These core Digital Certificate solutions allow its thousands of authenticated customers to conduct secure online transactions, data transfer, distribution of tamper-proof code, and protection of online identities for secure email and access control.  The company has a history of innovation within the online security industry and has offices in the US, UK, Belgium, Japan, and China.

GMO Internet Group
GMO Internet Group is one of the most comprehensive providers of industry-leading Internet services worldwide. As well as domain registration, web hosting, ecommerce, and payment processing businesses that each hold the top share in their respective markets in Japan, services operated by the group include Internet advertising, search engine marketing and research. Global online security brand GlobalSign and major Japanese online securities brokerage, GMO CLICK Securities are also group members. In 2011 a new Social Media & Smartphone Platform segment was established bringing together group initiatives in social apps development, flash marketing and Android apps distribution. GMO Internet, Inc. (TSE: 9449) is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Please visit www.gmo.jp/en for more information.

For further details please contact:

Steve Waite
GlobalSign
+603-570-7060 / 1-877-775-4562
press@globalsign.com