Certum EV Code Signing in the Cloud

Three cases. Kernel-mode drivers submitted through the Windows Hardware Developer Program are not accepted without it. Some enterprise customers and internal security policies name EV explicitly. And a few distribution channels require it in their own terms. If none of those apply, Standard signs the same files and asks less of you.

No, and it has not since March 2024, when Microsoft withdrew the instant-reputation treatment EV used to get. EV and Standard now start in the same place and build reputation as real downloads accumulate. If SmartScreen is your only reason to consider EV, buy Standard instead and spend the difference on getting downloads.

More of your company, from more independent sources. Certum verifies the legal entity, its registered address and its registration number, confirms the business exists operationally — typically through an independent listing or a bank reference — and calls back on a phone number published in a directory it trusts rather than one you supply. A person authorised to bind the company signs the subscriber agreement, and the person who will sign code completes an identity check.

No. This is a cloud certificate: the key is generated in Certum’s hardware security module and you sign through SimplySign from your own machine. The hardware protection that used to mean a shipped token is met by the HSM itself.

We do not promise a date, because the slow steps belong to Certum and to the person you name — the independent checks on your company and the identity check. What we control is that the application enters complete, which is what usually causes delay. Expect EV to take longer than Standard, because there is more to verify.

The certificate is bound to one SimplySign account, and each signing operation is authorised by the person holding that account, through their own authenticator. Decide who will sign before you order. Klarseal does not offer signing from a build server or a pipeline, so if your release has to be signed with nobody present, tell us before you order and we will say plainly whether this is the right product.

Not inside one certificate: EV is a separate certificate with its own validation, so there is no upgrade path. You can order EV at any time, and a Standard certificate you already hold keeps working — nothing stops you signing drivers with EV and everything else with the certificate you have.

You get the full amount back. We issue a credit memo against the original invoice and refund through Mollie to the payment method you used. EV asks more of your company than Standard does, so the risk that a check cannot be completed is ours to carry, not yours.