Patent ID: 8086848

Claim:
A method, comprising the steps of: a) receiving, by a Certificate Authority, a request for a Secure Sockets Layer Certificate for a Web Site hosted by a Hosting Provider, said request being received from an owner of said Web Site, said Hosting Provider comprising an entity that is different than said owner of said Web Site; b) receiving, by said Certificate Authority, a Certificate Signing Request directly from said Hosting Provider, said Certificate Signing Request comprising a public key and a distinguished name for said Web Site, said public key comprising part of a key pair generated by said Hosting Provider according to Public-Key Infrastructure protocol; c) verifying, by said Certificate Authority, the identity of said owner of said Web Site; d) upon successful verification of the identity of said owner of said Web Site, creating and signing, by said Certificate Authority, said Secure Sockets Layer Certificate; and e) transmitting, by said Certificate Authority, said Secure Sockets Layer Certificate directly to said Hosting Provider for installation on said Web Site, wherein Steps b) though e) are accomplished without said owner of said Web Site being contacted by said Certificate Authority or said Hosting Provider.