Security Blog
The latest news and insights from Google on security and safety on the Internet
Distrusting WoSign and StartCom Certificates
31 October 2016
Posted by Andrew Whalley, Chrome Security
Certificate Authorities (CAs) play a key role in web security by issuing digital certificates to website operators. These certificates are trusted by browsers to authenticate secure connections to websites. CAs who issue certificates outside the policies required by browsers and industry bodies can put the security and privacy of every web user at risk.
Google has determined that two CAs, WoSign and StartCom, have not maintained the high standards expected of CAs and will no longer be trusted by Google Chrome, in accordance with our
Root Certificate Policy
. This view is similar to the recent announcements by the root certificate programs of both
Apple
and
Mozilla
. The rest of this post provides background to that decision and how we plan to minimize disruption while still protecting users.
Background
On August 17, 2016, Google was notified by GitHub's security team that WoSign had issued a certificate for one of GitHub's domains without their authorization. This prompted an investigation, conducted in public as a collaboration with Mozilla and the security community, which found a number of other cases of
WoSign misissuance
.
The investigation concluded that WoSign knowingly and intentionally misissued certificates in order to circumvent browser restrictions and CA requirements. Further, it determined that StartCom, another CA, had been purchased by WoSign, and had replaced infrastructure, staff, policies, and issuance systems with WoSign's. When presented with this evidence, WoSign and StartCom management actively attempted to mislead the browser community about the acquisition and the relationship of these two companies. For both CAs, we have concluded there is a pattern of issues and incidents that indicate an approach to security that is not in concordance with the responsibilities of a publicly trusted CA.
Action
Beginning with Chrome 56, certificates issued by WoSign and StartCom after October 21, 2016 00:00:00 UTC will not be trusted. Certificates issued before this date may continue to be trusted, for a time, if they comply with the
Certificate Transparency in Chrome
policy or are issued to a limited set of domains known to be customers of WoSign and StartCom.
Due to a number of technical limitations and concerns, Google Chrome is unable to trust all pre-existing certificates while ensuring our users are sufficiently protected from further misissuance. As a result of these changes, customers of WoSign and StartCom may find their certificates no longer work in Chrome 56.
In subsequent Chrome releases, these exceptions will be reduced and ultimately removed, culminating in the full distrust of these CAs. This staged approach is solely to ensure sites have the opportunity to transition to other Certificate Authorities that are still trusted in Google Chrome, thus minimizing disruption to users of these sites. Sites that find themselves on this whitelist will be able to request early removal once they’ve transitioned to new certificates. Any attempt by WoSign or StartCom to circumvent these controls will result in immediate and complete removal of trust.
We remain committed to ensuring the safety and privacy of Google Chrome users. We appreciate the impact to users visiting sites with affected certificates and to the operators who run these sites, but the nature of these incidents, and the need to protect our users, prevent us from being able to take less disruptive steps.
No comments :
Post a Comment
Labels
#sharethemicincyber
#supplychain #security #opensource
android
android security
android tr
app security
big data
biometrics
blackhat
C++
chrome
chrome enterprise
chrome security
connected devices
CTF
diversity
encryption
federated learning
fuzzing
Gboard
google play
google play protect
hacking
interoperability
iot security
kubernetes
linux kernel
memory safety
Open Source
pha family highlights
pixel
privacy
private compute core
Rowhammer
rust
Security
security rewards program
sigstore
spyware
supply chain
targeted spyware
tensor
Titan M2
VDP
vulnerabilities
workshop
Archive
2024
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sept
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2023
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sept
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2022
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sept
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2021
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sept
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2020
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sept
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2019
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sept
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2018
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sept
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2017
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sept
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2016
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sept
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2015
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sept
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2014
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sept
Aug
Jul
Jun
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2013
Dec
Nov
Oct
Aug
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2012
Dec
Sept
Aug
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2011
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sept
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
2010
Nov
Oct
Sept
Aug
Jul
May
Apr
Mar
2009
Nov
Oct
Aug
Jul
Jun
Mar
2008
Dec
Nov
Oct
Aug
Jul
May
Feb
2007
Nov
Oct
Sept
Jul
Jun
May
Feed
Follow @google
Follow
Give us feedback in our
Product Forums
.
Follow
No comments :
Post a Comment