Thawte was founded by Mark Shuttleworth in South Africa, Thawte was the first Certificate Authority to issue SSL certificates to public entities outside the United States, quickly responding to 40% of the global SSL market. In 2000 it was acquired by VeriSign, Inc. and became an important member of the VeriSign trust mark family. Up to today, Thawte has issued more than 945.000 SSL and code signing certificates since 1995, protecting identities and transactions in more than 240 countries.