Stay updated on certificate-related infosec topics, including SSL/TLS, PKI, and digital certificate management for robust cyber security.
Search across headline titles and summaries.
Background for this topic.
Digital certificates are electronic documents that verify the ownership of a public cryptographic key by an individual, organization, or device. Issued by trusted Certificate Authorities (CAs) within a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), certificates enable secure communication by confirming identities and supporting encryption protocols like TLS. They include information such as the subject’s name, public key, issuer, validity period, and digital signature from the CA.
Security concerns with certificates focus on risks like CA compromise or fraudulent issuance, which can allow attackers to impersonate legitimate entities and intercept or alter encrypted traffic. Expired or revoked certificates may cause connection failures or be exploited if clients do not properly validate them. Effective certificate lifecycle management—including timely renewal, revocation checking (via CRLs or OCSP), and monitoring for unauthorized certificates—is essential to maintaining trust and preventing man-in-the-middle attacks or unauthorized access.
Digital certificates authorized by the authorities will no longer have trust by default in the browser starting in August, over what Google said is a loss of integrity in actions by the respective companies.
Digital certificates authorized by the authorities will no longer have trust by default in the browser starting in August, over what Google said is a loss of integrity in actions by the respective companies.
Google has revealed that it will no longer trust digital certificates issued by Chunghwa Telecom and Netlock citing "patterns of concerning behavior observed over the past year." The changes are expected to be introduced in Chrome 139, which is scheduled for public release in early August 2025. The current major version is 137. The update will affect all Transport Layer Security (TLS)
Google says it will no longer trust root CA certificates signed by Chunghwa Telecom and Netlock in the Chrome Root Store due to a pattern of compliance failures and failure to make improvements. [...]