Certificate authorities verify the owner information of certificates by signing them.
5
votes
1answer
44 views
'Trusted CA Certificates' and 'Trusted remote Certificates'
What is the difference between Trusted CA Certificates and Trusted remote Certificates?
2
votes
1answer
36 views
Use Client Certificate using Self Signed CA while using Web Certificate of a publicly trusted CA
I would like to ask if it is possible to use different CA for the client certificate and the web certificate?
For example, I would use Verisign to sign my web certificate while I use my Self Sign ...
5
votes
5answers
159 views
A standard way to manually add a digital signature to a pdf file?
I've created a few certificates to use myself, but I find myself stumped when it comes to creating a certificate which contains a digital signature. First, how would I go about creating a standard ...
2
votes
1answer
75 views
How does an offline CA revoke certificates?
If an RSA private key of a root CA is stored offline, how does it revoke certificates it signs?
From looking at OpenSSL config the default_crl_days option seems to indicate that a CRL must be ...
5
votes
3answers
86 views
What are the risks of a localhost signed cerificate?
In our company we have an internal CA certificate for signing various things including the proxied (MITM'd) HTTPS connections.
Suppose we use this CA to sign a key for "localhost" for use in ...
2
votes
1answer
40 views
Sending Digital Certificates
I used the makecert tool in order to create:
a self-signed certificate
a server certificate using the self-signed certificate
a client certificate using the self-signed certificate
I then ...
2
votes
1answer
64 views
Security Certificates - Tools to Generate Security Certificates
I want to create a self-signed certificate that will be installed as a trusted certificate authority.
I then want to create another two certificates which are signed using the private key of the ...
8
votes
1answer
177 views
Configure SSL Mutual (Two-way) Authentication
A lot of tutorials, a lot of pages, a lot of question and they differ in implementation of this issue "Configure SSL Mutual (Two-way) Authentication". I have to do it with Linux, and I don't know from ...
1
vote
1answer
99 views
The request was aborted: Could not create SSL/TLS secure channel Exception
Let me explain my situation.
I created a self-signed certificate and installed it in the Trusted Root Certification Authorities section in MMC.
I then created two certificates using the self-signed ...
3
votes
1answer
83 views
Creation and deployment of self-signed certificates for a two-machine scenario
Let us assume that I have two computers:
client
server
Now, in the server computer, I set up a legacy ASMX web service which will going to be used by the client. Before the client can connect to ...
10
votes
2answers
167 views
What does having an internal two-tier PKI protect against?
There are a lot of Best Practice documents that recommend having an offline Root CA and an Enterprise Subordinate CA that is signed by the root, for an internal Microsoft AD Certificate Services ...
2
votes
2answers
92 views
Looking for general guidance on securing web API application for client applications and users
I have a web service built with WebAPI that accepts JSON requests and responds accordingly. The core architecture is built but there isn't any authentication/authorization.
After a lot of googling ...
1
vote
1answer
107 views
Why a web server HTTPS certificate can't sign its subdomain HTTPS certificates?
Why having a valid certificate for "exampe.com" I can't make a "child" certificate for "subdomain.example.com"?
What insecurities will arise if browsers start allowing domain's certificates to be ...
4
votes
2answers
71 views
Using SSL Certification in Multiple Locations
I have some issues with respect to using SSL Certificates. I have a website hosted in UK and I also have an organisation in South Africa hosting my company application online for web access.
The ...
2
votes
1answer
72 views
Certificate Chains When Importing Signed CSR Response
I'm interfacing with a secure web service, and authenticating using a client certificate. I'm confused about step #3 in the client configuration:
Generate a private key into keystore
Generate a CSR ...
0
votes
2answers
92 views
Create a SSL certificate and sign it with a personal certificate which in turn is signed by a certificate authority [duplicate]
I have a personal certificate which is signed by a certificate authority. This certificate is unrestricted with respect to its allowed purposes. Is it possible to create a SSL server certificate on my ...
5
votes
1answer
94 views
Security and authentication problem
We have a sample scenario and we would like to receive some feedback and some solutions regarding possible security schemes.
First of all, lets imagine a real world scenario:
Imagine that a user ...
3
votes
2answers
91 views
Why are SSL certificates valid only from a certain date?
Each SSL certificate is valid starting from a specific date and up to the expiration date.
What's the point in that "valid from" date? Why do we want a certificate to only be valid after a specific ...
1
vote
1answer
66 views
How to have Thunderbird include a root certificate?
An eMail signed via S/MIME also contains the X.509 certificate chain containing the public key in order to directly verify the signature (assuming its issuing CA is deemed trustworthy). The chain does ...
3
votes
1answer
150 views
Internal CA for Digital Signature Solution - PKI Based
I'm trying to set up a digital signature solution which would work with a internal PKI.
We have considered Microsoft Certificate Services, but we don't want to rule out any other option to set up a ...
41
votes
10answers
2k views
Why do we not trust an SSL certificate that expired recently?
Every SSL certificate has an expiration date. Now suppose some site's certificate expired an hour ago or a day ago. All the software by default will either just refuse to connect to the site or issue ...
3
votes
1answer
92 views
Certification authority only for certain domains
Is it possible to make a certification authority certificate (even unsigned), which only allow to sign certificates for specific domain(s)?
1
vote
2answers
299 views
How to use a Yubikey NEO (or any OpenPGP card or GnuPG in general) to sign X.509 CSRs?
Since the Yubikey NEO can be used as an OpenPGP card (see here) with three 2048 bit RSA keys, I thought about creating a CA from one of its public keys. Since the private key cannot be extracted ...
1
vote
2answers
2k views
Error code: sec_error_untrusted_issuer
I need help with a security issue concerning this code that has just been popping up recently as I visit my favorite websites. Based on some past history I KNOW something is not right, and I am not ...
2
votes
2answers
421 views
Protecting against SSL Strip [duplicate]
I've read you can attack connections using tools like sslstrip, if you are on the same network. So what ensures that our SSL connections remain safe?
Does it depend on the cert strength?
Do you ...
5
votes
3answers
136 views
What is a reasonable expiry for user authentication certificates?
This question is about a nearly decentralized P2P system with a centralized certificate authority where users can authenticate and receive a certificate on their public key and then can authenticate ...
4
votes
1answer
104 views
For a desktop application, why use an SSL certificate from a trusted authority?
When a web browser connects to a server and downloads an SSL certificate, a third-party trusted authority ensures that the client is talking to the host that it's looking for. If the host uses a ...
0
votes
1answer
69 views
Does S/MIME provide means to propagate a certificate's revocation?
Can a revocation certificate for an old X.509 certificate be attached to an email in addition to a replacement certificate in such a way that the client user does not have to manually intervene? Or ...
2
votes
3answers
77 views
Are intermediate signing certs the only secure+practical way to manage OpenVPN client certs?
My organization needs to issue (and revoke) OpenVPN client certificates for people working remotely.
Our system is based on a standard OpenSSL CA setup and the easy-rsa tools, and the whole directory ...
10
votes
1answer
338 views
How does OCSP stapling work?
I've been looking into OCSP stapling for HTTPS, which looks pretty interesting. From what I can tell, it's essentially a way of offloading CRLs from the CA to the server, allowing for everything to be ...
3
votes
4answers
481 views
Is it possible to create a self signed certificate authority?
Would it be possible to create a legitimate certificate with the CA bit set? I dont have a usecase associated with this, I'm merely curious.
To explain my question : Suppose I sign a public ...
1
vote
1answer
181 views
How does a developer interact with Microsoft Certificate *Web Services*
Microsoft Certificate Web Services is a HTTPS web service (WS-Trust) that has no Kerberos dependency and can be used on a variety of devices. This is new in Windows 2008 and is separate from the ...
3
votes
1answer
97 views
How can an “alternate” or duplicate HTTPS certificate be used in an attack?
Inspired by an old question from PulpSpy, I'm trying to think of whether this is a significant weakness in the Certificate Authority system. Here are the attack methods that I think would work - ...
2
votes
1answer
110 views
What damage could be done if a malicious certificate had an identical “Subject Key Identifier”?
I'm looking at the the Subject Key Identifier attribute of a CA certificate and am trying to understand the role it plays in validation and infer how validating client software could get it wrong.
...
2
votes
1answer
54 views
Is it a good idea to generate certificate-specific CRLs? What is this technique called?
Suppose I create 3 certificates with the following CRLs
Cert1 http://crl.server.com/batch1/root1.crl
Cert2 http://crl.server.com/batch2/root2.crl
Cert3 ...
2
votes
1answer
186 views
What should a CRL file name look like when “new” and “delta” CRLs are generated?
I suspect my Windows 20012 Certificate Server CRL revocation configuration is incorrect every time I generate a new CRL or a new Delta, only a maximum of 3 files are generated.
When I created the ...
2
votes
1answer
163 views
What Enhanced Key Usages are required for PKI infrastructure tasks? (OIDs for OSPF and CRL signing, etc)
I'm building a constrained PKI that specifies EKUs for the the entire hierarchy and want to document the OIDs required for PKI tree maintenance tasks.
I understand that clients may not validate the ...
3
votes
2answers
242 views
Is an AIA or CRL useful / required at the Root CA if that Root is used to cross certify another PKI?
Suppose I have several independent PKIs that are used
Two internal PKIs: One with SHA1 support the other with Suite B algorithms.
A partner who I trust and have a policy map with.
Since both my ...
2
votes
1answer
93 views
What happens to a certificate's Basic Constraints when a policy map is used?
One feature of a Basic Constraint when applied to a certificate (CA or end certificate) is that I can specify the maximum number of CAs that are permitted in the chain.
I'm planning on having a 2 ...
2
votes
1answer
241 views
What OID Issuance Policies are appropriate for SmartCard and Browser Certificates?
I'm investigating issuance policies for SMIME and Browser certificates with different levels of assurance.
For the purposes of S/MIME and Browser certificates, should I even use an assurance policy? ...
4
votes
2answers
137 views
What is the severity of a fake certificate?
I'm not a security specialist, thus reading this Google Blog post about a fake *.google.com certificate, raises a lot of concerns, if anyone can impersonate a website, especially a google website, my ...
2
votes
2answers
143 views
Why CAs instead of global fingerprint database?
Why do we use "too big to fail" CAs and the chain of trust instead of a global fingerprint database in a similar vein to how ssh works?
1
vote
2answers
197 views
Self-signed certificates usage for code signing purposes
if a self-signed certificate is trusted by the client's certificate store, then it should be fine to be used, since the client trusts the issuer of the certificate as it does any other trusted CA ...
2
votes
2answers
170 views
Forged SSL without installation of root CA, possible?
Consider visiting a secure website like Gmail. Is it possible to forge the website certificate only by having full control over the internet provider?
I mean is it practically possible for a provider ...
1
vote
3answers
208 views
Server Certificates, certificate authority, and servers
I currently have a valid wildcard certificate installed on OS X 10.8.2 server. To make sure we know what I'm talking about the cert is *.domain.com (example only) I'd love to use this to secure as ...
117
votes
7answers
6k views
How do certification authorities store their private root keys?
Knowledge of a CA private key would allow MitM attackers to transparently supplant any certificates signed by that private key. It would also allow cyber criminals to start forging their own trusted ...
4
votes
3answers
118 views
Issuing SSL certificates for device automation software package without domain names
We are developing the automation software for Windows which communicates with the certain devices via our own private connection protocol. That software package consists of several server (including ...
1
vote
1answer
191 views
When distributing a CRL over HTTP, what is the optimal refresh time? What logic affects this decision?
When distributing a CRL over HTTP, what is the optimal cache and max age settings (etc) for this distribution mechanism?
Related information on a different answer
Consider using HTTP instead ...
4
votes
1answer
479 views
AIA/CRL locations for Offline Root
I've read the answer to the following "Checklist on building an Offline Root & Intermediate Certificate Authority (CA)" and I have one questions based on the system I am trying building
It's an ...
0
votes
1answer
519 views
How to create trusted chain of certificates if I have the last certificate?
Good day.
During last two weeks i had been trying to create my xmpp client app which will be connect to the xmpp server via TLS(because server it's using)
My server is:
telnet xmpp.odnoklassniki.ru ...
