ie8 fix

Between the Lines

Larry Dignan, Andrew Nusca and Rachel King
Home / News & Blogs / Between the Lines

GlobalSign to resume issuing website certificates after server breach

By | September 12, 2011, 8:33am PDT

GlobalSign is to resume issuing SSL-website certificates, after the certificate authority said that hackers had breached one of its web servers.

Keen to point out that the certificate authority keeps its SSL-certificate issuing infrastructure separate from its website operations, the company is still investigating whether fake certificates were created.

This is believed to be part of a wider hack, which affected Dutch certificate authority DigiNotar and all of its customers, including the Dutch government.

The fake certificates could not therefore guarantee that the sites that were being accessed, were the intended sites the visitor wanted to access.

In a statement on its website:

“At present there is no further evidence of breach other than the isolated www web server. As an additional precaution, we continue to monitor all activity to all services closely.

We will be bringing system components back on line on Monday during a sequenced startup, but we do not foresee that customers will be able to process orders until Tuesday morning.”

It is believed that a hacker, going by the name ‘Comodohacker’, gained access to not only GlobalSign’s certificate issuing service, something the certificate authority denies, but three other companies that issue SSL-certificates.

DigiNotar was accessed and fake certificates were generated, but there is no evidence yet to suggest that GlobalSign was hacked.

GlobalSign responded by ceasing issuing operations pending an investigation.

It is believed that over 500 fake certificates were created by the hacker through DigiNotar, many of which were used in Iran, potentially giving others snooping access on

Google highly recommended that users of Gmail change their passwords, to be on the safe side.

Other major companies and organisations were affected by the fake certificates, including Facebook, Google and Microsoft’s Windows Update service. Intelligence services including Britain’s MI6, the CIA and Israel’s Mossad were also affected.

Related:

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily e-mail newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

More from “Between the Lines”

Topics

Web Site, Certificate, Certificate Authority, GlobalSign, Website Certificate, Web Site Development, Web Technology, Hacking, Security, Internet, Zack Whittaker

Zack Whittaker, a criminologist who studied at the University of Kent, Canterbury, is a journalist, writer and broadcaster.

Disclosure

Zack Whittaker

I worked briefly with Microsoft UK in 2006 but no longer have any connection with the company. Regardless, I remain impartial and unbiased in my views.

I don't hold any stock or shares, investments or industrial secrets in any company, but have signed confidentiality agreements with a number of UK and U.S. organisations, whose names I am not at liberty to disclose.

I was involved with Kent Union, the University of Kent's student union, undertaking voluntary, non-salaried, elected positions between early 2009 and mid-2010.

No other company, body, government department, non-governmental organisation or third sector organisation employs me or pays me a salary in any capacity whatsoever.

As a freelance journalist, whenever expenses are given and taken by a company that is not CBS Interactive, these will be disclosed in each relevant post to ensure transparency.

I currently work with a UK law enforcement unit, but this is an entirely separate position which bears no connection to other work.

(Updated: 23rd October 2011)

Biography

Zack Whittaker

Zack Whittaker, criminologist who studied at the University of Kent, UK, is a journalist, writer and broadcaster.

After studying criminology at university, though still in his early-20's, he has already had a series unconventional work and voluntary positions. He has worked with researchers studying neurological illnesses like Tourette's syndrome (which he suffers from), has given lectures on the nature of disabilities in the public community, and occasionally ends up speaking on television and radio discussing the events of the day.

He first had academic work published at the age of 22, then still an undergraduate, and has been cited by a wide range of publications: from CNN, the Huffington Post, AllThingsDigital, The Atlantic Wire and CBS News.

The discussion hasn’t started yet. Why don’t you begin it?

Formatting +
BB Codes - Note: HTML is not supported in forums
  • [b] Bold [/b]
  • [i] Italic [/i]
  • [u] Underline [/u]
  • [s] Strikethrough [/s]
  • [q] "Quote" [/q]
  • [ol][*] 1. Ordered List [/ol]
  • [ul][*] · Unordered List [/ul]
  • [pre] Preformat [/pre]
  • [quote] "Blockquote" [/quote]
ie8 fix

The best of ZDNet, delivered

ZDNet Newsletters

Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox

Facebook Activity

Blog Roll

Blog Archive

White Papers, Webcasts, & Resources
ie8 fix