VeriSign today unveiled a redesign of its ubiquitous Trust Mark seal symbol.

Instead of a static GIF image, the new Trust Mark features a Flash-based animated design to make it more recognizable online.

By clicking on the new VeriSign Trust Mark, consumers can verify a business's legal name, determine the validity period for the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate, and view their place of incorporation.

Mike Foley, vice president of VeriSign Security Services, explained that the underlying technology behind the design had changed so that this information could be validated in real time - unlike earlier versions of the seal where information wasn't served dynamically. This also means that VeriSign can strip off the revamped Trust Mark seal from a site when a digital certificate expires, he added.

The newly designed VeriSign Trust Mark is positioned as a way for VeriSign's customers to better communicate the authenticity of their site to potential consumers online.

The new seal, available to VeriSign's existing US PKI customers from today, will be available to other customers in the run-up to Christmas.

In recent months VeriSign has faced increased competition from rivals like Comodo and GeoTrust who offer certificates at a much lower price than the market leader. These firms will doubtless dismiss Verisign's revamp of Trust Mark as window dressing but at least VeriSign has avoided the temptation to resort to purple prose in unveiling its new seal. ®

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