What CA/Browser Forum does

The CA/Browser Forum is a voluntary industry standards consortium founded in 2007 that develops and maintains baseline requirements for digital certificate issuance and management across the global public key infrastructure (PKI) ecosystem. Its membership consists of Certificate Issuers (Certification Authorities such as DigiCert, GlobalSign, Sectigo, HARICA, and IdenTrust) and Certificate Consumers (Internet browser vendors including Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla), who jointly approve standards through a consensus-based ballot process requiring two-thirds of Certificate Issuer votes and a majority-plus-one of Certificate Consumer votes. The Forum's deliverables are organized through dedicated working groups covering Server Certificates, Code Signing Certificates, S/MIME Certificates, Network and Certificate System Security, Definitions, and Forum Infrastructure, with current active versions including Server Certificate Baseline Requirements v2.2.8, Code Signing Baseline Requirements v3.11.0, S/MIME Requirements v1.0.14, and Network and Certificate System Security Requirements v2.0.5.

The Forum operates as a non-commercial standards body rather than a revenue-generating company. Its standards are developed through public mailing lists, GitHub repositories for collaborative document versioning, and regular face-to-face meetings and teleconferences, with all proceedings, ballots, and final documents published transparently on cabforum.org. Membership is open to qualifying organizations at no direct cost beyond the requirement to maintain a current WebTrust or ETSI audit (for issuers) or browser-platform-supplier status (for consumers), and the resulting standards become effective through adoption by member organizations rather than through commercial distribution.

The Forum's standards are adopted by virtually all publicly trusted CAs worldwide and are directly incorporated into major browser root store programs, giving them de facto regulatory force over the entire SSL/TLS, code signing, and S/MIME certificate ecosystem. The organization has progressively expanded its scope — adding the Code Signing Working Group in 2019 and the Network Security Working Group in 2021 — and continuously updates requirements to address emerging cryptographic threats, including sunsetting SHA-1 signatures, increasing minimum RSA key sizes, reducing certificate validity periods, and codifying policy OID requirements. The Forum has no parent company, no external investors, no traditional revenue streams, and operates entirely on member participation and voluntary contributions.

Name

CA/Browser Forum

Legal name

CA/Browser Forum

Website

https://cabforum.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Short description

The CA/Browser Forum is a voluntary standards consortium of Certificate Authorities and browser vendors that develops baseline requirements governing the global public key infrastructure for SSL/TLS, code signing, and S/MIME certificates through consensus-based ballot processes.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Internet Security Standards Organization

NAICS

Business Associations (813910)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Standards Development & Publishing (SDOs, Technical Standards) (MPAJACAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

International Standards Development & Standardization Bodies (BPADANAA)

Keywords

• PKI standards development
• Digital certificate requirements
• TLS certificate governance
• Code signing standards
• SSL certificate policies

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The CA/Browser Forum is a voluntary industry consortium that develops, maintains, and promotes baseline requirements, guidelines, and minimum standards for the issuance and management of publicly trusted digital certificates (TLS/SSL, code signing, S/MIME). It does not sell software or certificates; rather, it produces the policy documents (Baseline Requirements, Extended Validation Guidelines, Code Signing BRs, S/MIME BRs) that participating Certificate Authorities and browser/root-store members agree to follow.

Product overview

The CA/Browser Forum is a voluntary industry standards organization, not a software product company. It develops and maintains a portfolio of baseline requirements, guidelines, and security standards for the public key infrastructure (PKI) ecosystem. The organization's core deliverables include the Server Certificate Baseline Requirements (for SSL/TLS certificates), Code Signing Baseline Requirements (v3.11.0 currently), S/MIME Certificate Requirements (v1.0.14), Network and Certificate System Security Requirements (NCSSRs v2.0.5), and Extended Validation Guidelines. These standards are developed through a ballot process involving Certificate Issuers (CAs) and Certificate Consumers (browser vendors), and are maintained by dedicated Working Groups covering Server Certificates, Code Signing, S/MIME, Network Security, and Definitions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Baseline Requirements for the Issuance and Management of Publicly-Trusted Certificates (TLS/SSL BRs)

Quantifiable outcome

• All major publicly trusted CAs globally operate under Forum-adopted baseline requirements, covering virtually 100% of the SSL/TLS, code signing, and S/MIME certificate ecosystem.
• +3 more outcomes

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute): ETSI's ESI (Electronic Signatures and Infrastructures) technical committee develops standards for qualified certificates and trust services under eIDAS that overlap with and complement Forum S/MIME baseline requirements, making it a parallel regional standards body in the PKI ecosystem.
• IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force): The IETF develops the underlying RFCs (e.g., RFC 8657 CAA, RFC 5019) that the CA/Browser Forum's baseline requirements implement and reference, making it the closest peer as another open, consensus-driven internet technical standards body.
• W3C (World Wide Web Consortium): W3C develops open web standards (including WebAuthn, Web Crypto API, and Web PKI) that intersect with Forum certificate standards, making it a peer consensus-based technical standards body governing the browser/web ecosystem.
• CA Security Council (CASC): CASC is an industry advocacy group of leading Certificate Authorities that complements the Forum's standards work with certification authority-specific guidance, education, and best-practice promotion for SSL/TLS and code signing.
• NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology): NIST publishes the cryptographic standards (FIPS 140-2/3, SP 800-57, post-quantum cryptography standards) that the CA/Browser Forum references in its baseline requirements, functioning as a peer technical-standards authority.

Others

• WebTrust (CPA Canada / AICPA): WebTrust provides the audit framework that CAs use to demonstrate compliance with Forum baseline requirements; as an enabling ecosystem participant, it is functionally interdependent with the Forum even though it is not a standards development body itself.

Emerging players

• Trusted Roots Community (Mozilla): Mozilla's root store program is one of the four Certificate Consumer constituencies within the Forum but also operates its own root inclusion policy, making it an adjacent standards-setting body for the PKI ecosystem.
• PKI Consortium: The PKI Consortium is a global, member-driven industry association promoting PKI and digital identity best practices, serving as an adjacent standards-promotion and education-focused peer to the CA/Browser Forum.

Broad incumbents

• ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27 develops international information security standards including PKI-related work; as a broader and more formal international standards body, it sets adjacent standards that interact with Forum baseline requirements.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ca-browser-forum

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about CA/Browser Forum