Neither the headline nor the article itself state whether this restriction is confined to just this one issuer, or is part of some industry-wide change. Some clarification of that would be useful.
It is industry wide as mandated by the CA/Browser forum linked in the article.
While a good move, given how quickly SSL certificate requirements are changing; maximum validity should probably be even shorter.
They have reduced gradually from 6 years. Generally long lengths meant less admin required. However in my experience it also meant many certificates expired because admins forgot to renew them or the person in charge had changed roles/left the company.
I would like to see a reduction to 2 years as is the maximum for EV certs.
Conveniently the decrease in validity time is not accompanied by a decrease in price per certificate?