University of Memphis web servers requiring login credentials, or presenting and/or collecting sensitive information must use a secure (https) protocol. As of April 2009, ITD has established an account with Comodo, a major vendor of online identity and trust services. Since the U of M has already been vetted by Comodo for any SSL digital certificates created for the “memphis.edu" domain, it is possible to process and acquire new and renewed certificates with a very quick turnaround.

The majority of the centrally processed digital certificates are used to secure servers hosting enterprise services such as UMdrive, umWiki, and the myMemphis portal. Campus web server administrators can obtain SSL digital certificates for official University servers by generating a certificate signing request (CSR) and sending it, along with the type of server (i.e Apache, Tomcat, Microsoft IIS 6.x, etc.) to ITD Web Services (webservices@memphis.edu) along with the account number to be charged. You can also submit a Helpdesk Ticket for this request. The current cost is $100 for a one year certificate, or $200 for a three year certificate.

To ensure prompt issuance of a digital certificate, the organization listed in the CSR must be University of Memphis and the organization unit or department must be Information Technology.  The vendor expects an exact match on this information.  Any deviation in this information will result in a delay processing the digital certificate request.  Additionally, the CSR must genreated with a 2048-bit private key.