Email certificates

[Tom Metro]

Bill Bogstad wrote:
> Tom Metro wrote:
>> ...I'm a bit concerned that the vendor I'm currently using is not
>> doing much to validate the information I'm supplying.
> 
> http://www.betanews.com/article/Security-researcher-Trivially-easy-to-buy-SSL-certificate-for-domain-you-dont-own/1270072287
> 
> Not sure if its relevant to your exact situation, but it still warrants a read.

Yes, exactly the same sort of stuff I'm observing. Such as accepting 
faxed documents as proof of identity or domain ownership.

The article talks about registering an address at a web mail provider 
with a mailbox name like ssladmin so you can pose as an admin for that 
domain and obtain an SSL cert for that provider. But that presumes you 
need to fool a human with the address you make up. I suspect most of the 
time any address would work.

After what I saw with the first CA I was dealing with, I went through 
the process to get a demo certificate through Verisign. For that, all 
you need is a working credit card and the ability to receive (or 
intercept) email at the address you want the cert for. It's a fully 
automated system.

So it turns out the first CA, with their requirements for documentation 
and actual humans looking at it and sending me questions, was the one 
with the "Cadillac" service. Sad.

  -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/