CA Browser Forum
The CA/Browser Forum (CAB Forum) is a voluntary industry consortium comprising leading Certificate Authorities (CAs), browser vendors, operating system providers, and other stakeholders in the public trust ecosystem. Its primary purpose is to define, maintain, and evolve a common set of technical and operational standards that govern how publicly trusted digital certificates are issued, managed, and validated on the internet.
The CAB Forum plays a critical role in maintaining global internet trust by ensuring that certificates used for HTTPS, secure communications, and other trust-critical applications meet consistent security, validation, and transparency requirements—regardless of which CA issues them.
Importance of the CA/Browser Forum
The CAB Forum establishes and publishes baseline rules that all publicly trusted CAs must follow. These rules are adopted and enforced by browser and operating system trust programs, making them foundational to internet security.
Key areas governed by the CA/Browser Forum include:
Baseline Requirements (BRs) for TLS certificates, defining identity validation, cryptographic standards, certificate profiles, and lifecycle controls
Certificate validity limits, including industry-wide reductions in maximum certificate lifetimes
Revocation and incident response requirements, ensuring rapid mitigation of compromised or misissued certificates
Audit and compliance expectations, including alignment with WebTrust and equivalent assurance frameworks
Transparency and accountability, such as Certificate Transparency (CT) logging requirements
By standardizing these requirements, the CAB Forum ensures that trust decisions made by browsers and platforms are consistent, predictable, and based on clearly defined security principles.
Regulating Trust Through Collaboration
Unlike traditional regulators, the CA/Browser Forum operates through collaboration and consensus between CAs and relying-party platforms. Browser vendors use CAB Forum requirements as the basis for deciding whether a CA is included in, or removed from, their trust stores.
This model ensures that:
Trust rules evolve in response to real-world threats and incidents
Security improvements are applied uniformly across the ecosystem
No single CA can unilaterally lower trust standards
As a result, CAB Forum requirements directly influence how trust is established and maintained across the global internet.
emSign’s Active Participation in the CA/Browser Forum
emSign, eMudhra’s public trust Certificate Authority, is an active participant in the CA/Browser Forum. Through this participation, emSign contributes to industry discussions, working groups, and consensus-building efforts that shape the future of public trust.
Active involvement allows emSign to:
Stay aligned with evolving browser and platform expectations
Contribute operational and regional insights to standards development
Prepare proactively for upcoming changes such as shorter certificate lifecycles, stronger validation requirements, and cryptographic transitions
Ensure its Certificate Policies (CP) and Certification Practice Statements (CPS) remain aligned with current and emerging requirements
This engagement demonstrates emSign’s commitment to transparency, security, and continuous improvement within the public trust ecosystem.
Why This Matters for CertiNext Customers
For organizations using CertiNext with emSign as a public trust provider, CA/Browser Forum participation translates into tangible benefits:
Certificates that remain trusted across browsers and platforms
Reduced risk of disruption due to non-compliance or policy changes
Confidence that public trust operations follow globally accepted standards
Future readiness for evolving trust and cryptographic requirements
Trust Built on Standards and Accountability
The CA/Browser Forum is a cornerstone of modern digital trust. By actively participating in this forum and adhering to its requirements, emSign reinforces its position as a responsible, standards-driven public CA. Combined with CertiNext’s automation and governance capabilities, this ensures that public trust certificates are not only easy to manage—but also issued and operated within the most rigorous global trust framework.
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