A mighty fortress is our PKI

Anne & Lynn Wheeler lynn at garlic.com
Tue Jul 27 11:04:50 EDT 2010


On 07/27/2010 10:11 AM, Peter Gutmann wrote:
> So a general response to the several "well, what would you do?" questions is
> "I'm not sure, that's why I posted this to the list".  For example should an
> SSL cert be held to higher standards than the server it's hosted on?  In other
> words if it's easier to compromise a CDN host or (far more likely) a web app
> on it, does it matter if you're using a Sybil cert?  I have no idea, and I'm
> open to arguments for and against.

long ago and far away, we were called in to consult with a small client/server startup that wanted to do payment transactions on their server ... they had also invented this technology called SSL that they wanted to use. As part of applying the technology to the business payment process ... we also had to go around and investigate how some of these new businesses, calling themselves "Certification Authorities", operated. In any case, the result is now sometimes called "electronic commerce".

There were lots of issues with deficiencies and vulnerabilities, resulting in my coining the term "merchant comfort" certificates ... aka ... as opposed to anything to do with security. Of course, I also suggested that everybody that in anyway touched on the certificates or the merchant servers ... needed to have detail FBI background check.

-- 
virtualization experience starting Jan1968, online at home since Mar1970

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