Certificate Comparison: Regular Code Signing vs EV Code Signing
Code Signing Certificates are the major security tools for any developer or software publishing organisation since they shield the code of software, files, or applications from getting tampered with when they are digitally signed, as well as validate the publisher's reputation among users as a trusted software publishing source.
Code signing certificates are issued by reputed Certificate Authorities(CA) like Comodo or Sectigo and are available in the market in two popular variants: Regular Code Signing Certificate and EV Code Signing Certificate.
Regular or Standard Code Signing Certificates are most suitable for individual developers or small software organisations and help them secure their software and application code when digitally signed, as well as validate their identity as a verified publisher for users by removing the "Unknown Publisher Warning" while downloading any software or file on the system. Moreover, regular code signing certificates are the cheapest among other certificate types and are issued by certificate authorities through a standard vetting process whereby the CA asks for some documents from the certificate requester to verify its identity, and only then is the code signing certificate issued successfully.
The Extended Validation (EV) Code Signing Certificates provide all the security benefits of the regular code signing certificate, as mentioned above, along with some additional features. EV code signing certificates remove unknown publisher warning alerts as well as bypass the notorious "Microsoft SmartScreen Filter" too. Moreover, the EV code signing certificate displays the publisher's company name, company address, and company type with the digital signature, which indicates the highest level of trust and is mostly suitable for large software publishing organisations. The vetting process for obtaining an EV certificate from the CA is rigorous and includes all of the steps mentioned for the standard code signing validation process, as well as some additional verification steps that the requesting organisation must complete after which the EV code signing certificate is successfully issued.
Along with the above-mentioned features, there are also some unique factors that can clearly Differentiate an EV Code Signing Certificate from a Regular Code Signing Certificate as shown below:
Conclusion:
As discussed, these unique features and factors that distinguish the Regular or Standard Code Signing Certificates from the EV Code Signing Certificates may assist you in selecting the right code signing certificate that is a perfect match for your business requirements.