PKI Consortium blog

The London Protocol
June 27, 2018 by CA Security Council DV EV Identity OV Phishing

The objective of The London Protocol is to improve identity assurance and minimize the possibility of phishing activity on websites encrypted by OV (organization validated) and EV (extended validation) certificates (together referred to as “Identity Websites”). The London Protocol reinforces the distinction between Identity Websites making them even more secure for users than websites encrypted by DV (domain validated) certificates. That security feature can then be utilized by others for their own security purposes, including informing users as to the type of website they are visiting and use by antiphishing engines and browser filters in their security algorithms.

How Browser Security Indicators Can Protect You from Phishing
June 6, 2017 by Chris Bailey (Entrust), Kirk Hall (Entrust) Chrome DV Encryption EV Google Identity Phishing SSL/TLS

The media is full of stories about how phishing sites are moving rapidly to encryption using anonymous, free DV certificates they use to imitate login pages for popular sites, such as paypal.com.

As noted in the article PayPal Phishing Certificates Far More Prevalent than Previously Thought, more than 14,000 DV SSL certificates have been issued to PayPal phishing sites since the start of 2016.  Based on a random sample, 96.7% of these certificates were intended for use on phishing sites.

Google Certificate Transparency (CT) to Expand to All Certificates Types
November 8, 2016 by Jeremy Rowley Announcement CA/Browser Forum Chrome DV EV Google IETF OV Policy SSL/TLS

The policy change goes into effect October 2017

A recent Google announcement stated that all publicly trusted SSL/TLS certificates issued in October 2017 or later will be expected to comply with Chrome’s Certificate Transparency (CT) policy or be untrusted by the browser.

Why Is Certificate Expiration Necessary?
October 19, 2016 by Bruce Morton (Entrust) Attack CA/Browser Forum EV Hash Function Identity OCSP Policy RSA SSL/TLS Vulnerability

The Long Life Certificate – Why It Doesn’t Exist

Why is certificate expiration even necessary? Wouldn’t it be better if I could just buy a certificate with a long life before expiration? It would really simplify certificate management if it could be installed and forgotten. Simple, no management required, just file-and-forget.

Trust Indication Change in Google Chrome
August 24, 2016 by Bruce Morton (Entrust) Chrome EV Google ISO SSL/TLS

Google is making security icon changes in the Chrome status bar. The changes are based on a research paper prepared by members of Google and University of California, Berkeley. The research evaluated forty icons, seven complementary strings and surveyed 1,329 people.

The goal is to make it easier for browser users to determine how secure their connection to a site is and indicate if the site is dangerous or deceptive. In addition, the icons are to indicate to people that HTTP is less secure than HTTPS. Below are representations of the old icons and the selected new icons which are to be used in Chrome.

TLS Certificates on the Web – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
May 17, 2016 by Rick Andrews CA/Browser Forum Code Signing ECC Encryption EV Hash Function PKI Policy RSA SSL/TLS

It might be hard to believe, but the SSL/TLS Ecosystem is nearly 20 years old. It’s time to take stock and see how we’re doing with regards to TLS certificates. In this article, we’ll primarily discuss certificates themselves and not web server configuration, although that is often a source of problems.

In the last few years, we’ve endured three major certificate-based migrations:

• Away from the MD2 and MD5 hash algorithms to SHA-1
• Away from small RSA keys to 2048-bit keys or larger
• Away from the SHA-1 hash algorithm to SHA-256

What’s driving these migrations? Primarily, it’s the relentless march of attacks. As Bruce Schneier says, “Attacks always get better; they never get worse.” To stay ahead of these attacks, Certification Authorities and browser vendors joined together several years ago to form the CA/Browser Forum, and published several requirements documents: the Baseline Requirements, the EV SSL Guidelines and the EV Code Signing Requirements.

What Kind of SSL/TLS Certificate do You Need?
May 12, 2016 by Ben Wilson DV EV SSL/TLS

In previous blog posts we have discussed the differences among the various types of SSL/TLS certificates available. In this blog post we introduce you to a new infographic that has a decision tree to help you select the right kind of certificate for your needs.  In most cases you will need a publicly trusted certificate, but the decision tree notes that one type of certificate is the private trust certificate, which can be obtained and used in situations where a publicly trusted certificate cannot be used. These types of private SSL/TLS certificates chain to a root certificate that is not embedded in the key stores of browsers and other similar software, but apart from that branch, the decision tree is an aid to server administrators looking to buy one or more publicly trusted SSL/TLS certificates.

Stay Safe This Tax Season by Looking for SSL/TLS Certificates
March 30, 2016 by Ben Wilson Encryption EV Identity SSL/TLS

It’s tax filing season again, and you need to be aware of scams that tried to steal your sensitive information or even your tax refund.  During 2015 the IRS blocked over 4.3 million suspicious returns and more than 1.4 million confirmed identity theft returns. https://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS,-States-and-Tax-Industry-Combat-Identity-Theft-and-Refund-Fraud-on-Many-Fronts.

Phishing emails, account compromise, identity theft, and fake websites are a few approaches used by cyber criminals this time of year.  Good computer security hygiene will usually protect you from someone else filing a tax return in your name.  Do not open attachments from people you do not know, do not click on links that take you to websites with malicious content, use good passwords, remember that the IRS does not communicate by email, and only use a recognized e-filing website when entering your sensitive personal information.  The IRS website is a good place to start.  The SSL/TLS URL for the IRS e-filing webpage is https://www.irs.gov/Filing/E-File-Options. Don’t go anywhere else–unless you have used a particular trusted e-filing provider in the past.  SSL/TLS Certificates help establish the identity of web sites you visit.  https://casecurity.org/2013/11/22/how-organizations-are-authenticated-for-ssl-certificates/

CA Security Council Report: Consumers Don’t Know Much About Security, But They Trust the Padlock and Green Bar When Shopping Online
April 13, 2015 by CA Security Council CASC EV Google Identity SSL/TLS

San Francisco – April 13, 2015 – The CA Security Council (CASC), an advocacy group committed to the advancement of the security of websites and online transactions, today released its 2015 Consumer Trust Survey which found that validation matters.  While consumers are confused about some aspects of security, they recognize and trust the security that SSL brings to e-commerce sites.  Fifty-three percent of respondents identify the padlock as adding confidence in an e-commerce site, with 42 percent associating the green bar and organization name in the URL with greater safety.

Microsoft Deploys Certificate Reputation
April 9, 2015 by Bruce Morton (Entrust) EV Google Identity Microsoft Mis-issued SSL/TLS

As we have stated previously, website owners have a concern that an attacker can have a certificate issued for their domain name. We now have two systems which will help monitor certificates for domains: Certificate Transparency (CT) and Certificate Reputation.

At the start of 2015, most certification authorities (CAs) support CT as requested by Google. CT works for extended validation (EV) SSL certificates and will allow all EV certificates to be monitored.

In March 2015, Microsoft deployed Certificate Reputation. Through the use of Windows, Internet Explorer and other applications, certificate data for all types of SSL certificates is collected and provided to Microsoft. In addition, Microsoft has stated that they don’t collect any information that could be used to identify the user.