SECTIGO is 100% Comodo Certificate Authority !!

Comodo is Re-branded as SECTIGO

Francisco Partners take over Comodo Certificate Authority in 2017 and now Francisco Partners announced that it will be known as Sectigo. This was a decision that has been in the works for a while now and stems from the acquisition of the Comodo Certificate Authority by Francisco Partners almost a year ago.


Francisco Partners is an American private equity firm focused exclusively on investments in technology and technology-enabled services businesses. Francisco Partners Management LLC was founded in August 1999.


This is obviously a big announcement, one that triggers a number of questions for partners, resellers and customers of the Certificate Authority formerly known as Comodo CA. As one of Comodo CA Sectigo’s  partners, we were fortunate to get a heads up on this a while back. Actually, if we’re being honest we knew before they told us thanks to the magic of public trademark databases. Regardless, we’ve got answers to a lot of those questions, which is what we’ll cover today.

What will Change with Sectigo Brand Name?

One word answer is only branding. New domain, new logo, new security seal and even new name for root certificates.

Old is Gold for new Sectigo brand

Sectigo keep the existing comodo staff and management as it is, so comodo's experience will remain there with Sectigo.

Sectigo decide not to change pricing structure of their products.

Sectigo is not changing the signing process for ssl certificates. It will keep honoring the existing Comodo CA root certificate with new branded root certificate.

Whats New?

All new branding stuff like new logo, icon, tag line and seal etc.

Product Names are changed (only brand name).

Comodo/ Sectigo Customers Need to Worry?

No, not at all. Just like when the Certificate Transparency requirement went into place, this is really something that’s only going to affect the Certificate Authority side of things. As Sectigo said in its statement: We want to assure all customers and partners that this change will happen seamlessly with no action needed. Your existing certificates, issuing CAs, and roots will remain active and trusted. The new Sectigo intermediates will be used to fulfill new requests, renewal requests, and requests that are pending at the time of this transition.

Reissuance requests that are handled directly by Sectigo will be fulfilled using the same issuing CA that issued your original certificate. Ok, so let’s just run through a few things specifically: All Sectigo-issued certificates will continue to be trusted globally No action is required from customers, no need to re-issue or replace certificates until expiration All current Comodo CA and Sectigo certificates issued off the old roots will continue to work until expiry Finally, if you have a branded issuing CA, nothing will change with that These changes are set to take effect on January 14, 2019. We will let you know if anything changes between now and then

Sectigo have its own Root Certificate?

Starting from January 14, 2019 onward Sectigo will use the new branded Root certificate to sign the new requests and old roots and certificates will remain valid untill they expire or renewed or reissued.

Sectigo New Pricing/ Sectigo Price hike?

Sectigo decided not to modify any existing pricing plan to build trust and faith among customers.

Sectigo began expanding the company’s solutions and services beyond its core TLS/SSL digital certificate business and continued work with relevant standards bodies.

  • IoT Manager – Launched its IoT device security platform to defend devices and networks against cyberattacks through strong PKI digital identity, serving a range of industries and applications including industrial automation, medical devices, automotive, telecommunications, smart cities/smart buildings, and consumer electronics.
  • Certificate Manager 6.0 – Released advanced features for managing all enterprise certificate requirements from one interface: automated discovery and adoption of certificates issued by SSL vendors, Active Directory Certificate Services, automated enrollment, and renewals under administrator control of Public SSL, Private SSL, user, mobile device, SMIME, and IoT certificates, using industry standard protocols.
  • CodeGuard,Inc. Acquired CodeGuard, a global leader in website maintenance, backup, and disaster recovery. CodeGuard, which maintains its brand, has since expanded to six locations in EMEA and APAC to meet international demand and expects to see 100 percent YoY growth.
  • Standards Leadership – Established global industry memberships to advance industry standards from WiMAX Forum, GSMA, Zigbee, OCF, and Joint Venture – Silicon Valley.