The number of SSL certificates found by Netcraft's SSL Survey that are within their validity period, have a common name that matches the hostname and are issued by a widely trusted third party, has now exceeded one million.

Netcraft's first SSL Survey in November 1996 found a total of only 3,283 certificates around the globe. It took nearly a year for this total to grow to ten thousand, and it wasn't until August 2000 that the total exceeded a hundred thousand. In comparison, the past year has seen an average growth of more than 18,000 certificates per month.