Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Cybersecurity
    • Cybersecurity

    Certificate Authorities Aim to Improve Identity Assurance

    By
    Sean Michael Kerner
    -
    June 27, 2018
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin
      SSL/TLS certificates

      The Certificate Authority Security Council (CASC) announced a new effort dubbed the “London Protocol” on June 27 in a bid to help improve identity assurance for web security certificates.

      The London Protocol benefits from the support of multiple Certificate Authority (CA) vendors, including Comodo CA, Entrust Datacard, GlobalSign, GoDaddy and Trustwave. The London Protocol is a multi-stage effort that will be implemented over a 10-month period that aims to help understand how attackers are misusing SSL/TLS certificates and what the CAs can do to help minimize risks.

      “In general, the CAs have not really worked together to share data in the past to really provide a higher level of of identity assurance for certificates,” Chris Bailey, vice president of strategy and business development for certificate services at Entrust Datacard, told eWEEK. “What we want to do is get together and make sure we have a way to provide a consistent method to continuously improve on these identity certificates that show organization information, so they can continue to be relied upon in the future.”

      The CASC itself is a group of the largest SSL/TLS Certificate Authorities in the world that was formed in February 2013. The CASC has been actively working in the years since to move web security forward with multiple initiatives to help improve the trust and efficacy of certificate security.

      For SSL/TLS certificates, there are broadly speaking three primary types: Domain Validated (DV), Organization Validated (OV) and Extended Validation (EV). DV certificates are the easiest to attain and only require a minimal amount of validation, while OV and EV have more rigorous requirements. Bailey said that the London Protocol’s focus will initially be on helping to improve identity assurance for OV and EV, not DV certificates.

      EV certificates also benefit from visual identifiers in some web browsers that help end users better understand the identity of a given website. Bailey said that the London Protocol isn’t about changing how SSL/TLS certificate icons are shown in web browsers. Rather, what the effort is focused on is making sure that the identity that’s presented in the certificate can be relied upon. The actual specific steps that the CAs will be taking to improve identity assurances is not something that is entirely clear yet.

      “The premise behind the London Protocol is ultimately for us to find out what we need to do,” Bailey said.

      Bailey explained that as part of the London Protocol, participating CAs will work to understand what the issues are and then come up with potential procedures and methods to tackle specific type of threat vectors. 

      CAs are already required to adhere to the CA Browser (CAB) Forum Baseline requirements for certificate issuance. Bailey said that the London Protocol will be looking at requirements that go above and beyond the baseline to improve the identity and the trust of certificates.

      Certificate Transparency

      Among the other efforts to help improve SSL/TLS integrity is the Certificate Transparency logging (CT-logs) effort that Google launched in 2015. Bailey explained that with CT logs, SSL/TLS certificates are logged and presented to the public, enabling organizations to potentially identify any mis-issuance.

      Bailey said that the London Protocol in contrast is looking to verify that the information in certificates has been verified in ways that help to limit abuse and potential fraud before the certificate is issued.

      Doug Beattie, vice president of product management at GlobalSign, said that a core part of the London Protocol will be to have new data sharing mechanisms across the CAs to collaborate and share information on certificate issuance security issues.

      “It is going to be really important to understand how abuses of certificates happen, whether it’s primarily website hacks or whether people are getting them for malicious purposes to begin with,” Beattie told eWEEK. “I think understanding the motivation of the attackers on what types of scams and malicious things they are doing will help us to improve upfront authentication and validation.”

      Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at eWEEK and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.

      Sean Michael Kerner
      Sean Michael Kerner is an Internet consultant, strategist, and contributor to several leading IT business web sites.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Careers

      SThree’s Sunny Ackerman on Tech Hiring Trends

      James Maguire - June 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Sunny Ackerman, President/Americas for tech recruiter SThree, about the tight labor market in the tech sector, and much needed efforts to...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×