Google’s Certificate Transparency is an open source project that aims to strengthen the SSL/TLS certificate system, which is the main cryptographic security system that underlies all HTTPS secure connections. It is a extra tier of certificate security that forms a Security Triad to ensure that clients navigating the internet are safe and secure in regards to web security.

What Is Certificate Transparency (CT)?

As the name implies, CT allows people on the internet to look at all certificates that have been issued by a Certificate Authority (CA). This is achieved using centralized logging to a collection of servers. These log servers talk to one another, to ensure consistency and reveal any unusual activity. Anyone can query the log servers to find out details on certificates that have been issued to anyone, by anyone. For example, a company could check to see what certificates have been created using its domains and details.

In a nutshell, Certificate Transparency is a 3rd party auditing log required by Google/Chrome to display certificate ownership information.  The information is publicly audible.  Once the CT logging is enabled, that information will be public and can not be deleted from the log.  The following information appears in the CT log:

• Common Name
• Subject alternative names
• Organization name
• CA (issuer) name
• Serial number
• Validity period
• Extensions
• Certificate chain

*Note: that much of this information is already publicly available for external sites.

The Security Triad:

If you haven’t noticed over the years all client web browsers have been implementing various security notifications regarding the safety of websites. Browser have become an Auditor of website security  and show notifications to clients when web-surfing.

These notifications will typically show green bars or  padlocks if everything is secure and safe.  Yellow exclamation marks to make client awareness that the website is not as secure as it can be. Lastly red strikes if the browser deems something that is considered unsafe for users. The notifications will vary from browser to browser, but in the end these are all just disclaimers to inform web visitors on the safety of the website. Anything can contribute to these browser notifications including outdated server software configurations, Mixed or Insecure Content, or the certificate running on the website.

Now with Certificate Transparency there is a Web Security Triad. Security is not just limited to the Certificate Authority (Monitor) and Client browser (Auditor) like it used to be. Here’s what’s going on now.

• CT is a middle logging system that holds a time-stamp of logs of the certificates that have been issued by the various CA’s.
• The CA informs the Log Server of all certificates that get issued.
• The CA Monitor and Browser Auditor work in conjunction with the CT Log Server to Monitor, and Audit logs for suspicious certs, and verify that all the certs issued are visible for the public community.
• The Client browser Auditor verifies that the logs are behaving properly and informs  clients of anything suspicious that has happened in regards to certificate security.

CT is something that happens behind the scenes and is pretty much unnoticeable to browser clients navigating the web, but with its implementation there is a faster response and a extra tier to client safety with navigating the web.

For more information on Certificate Transparency feel free to visit Https://www.certificate-transparency.org

SSLSupportDesk is part of Acmetek who is a trusted advisor of security solutions and services. They provide comprehensive security solutions that include Encryption & Authentication (SSL), Endpoint Protection, Multi-factor Authentication, PKI/Digital Signing Certificates, DDOS, WAF and Malware Removal. If you are looking for security look no further. Acmetek has it all covered!

Contact an SSL Specialist to get a consultation on the Website Security Solutions that can fit your needs.

Become a Partner and create additional revenue stream while the heavy lifting for you.

Server Gated Cryptography (SCG) certificates are used for maintaining a 128 bit connection irrespective of browser age. They are designed to step up the encryption to 128 bit. With the new norm of SHA-256 for all SSL certificates.

The thawte product thawte SGC SuperCert  will no longer be compatible with SHA-256. This is the reason why  thawte announced they will discontinue their SGC SuperCert product in the 2nd Qtr of 2015.

Acmetek recommends the SSL Web Server with EV as a suitable replacement certificate. Added benefit with this certificate is it also offers Green Bar at a similar cost.

SSLSupportDesk is part of Acmetek who is a trusted advisor of security solutions and services. They provide comprehensive security solutions that include Encryption & Authentication (SSL), Endpoint Protection, Multi-factor Authentication, PKI/Digital Signing Certificates, DDOS, WAF and Malware Removal. If you are looking for security look no further. Acmetek has it all covered!

Contact an SSL Specialist to get a consultation on the Website Security Solutions that can fit your needs.

Become a Partner and create additional revenue stream while the heavy lifting for you.

Overview

The security environment is constantly changing as hackers become more sophis­ticated and your customers increasingly reach for mobile or tablet devices to carry out transactions online. Keeping up with the developments in malware and con­tinuing to provide a secure and trustworthy experience for your customers is vital.

As a leader in SSL security, Symantec is always working on new solutions that help your business to anticipate and meet increasing security demands, and provide a safe environment for your customers.

Harnessing the latest technology, Symantec SSL certification with ECC is an easy way for your business to address the impending move to 2048-bit encryption and benefit from the explosion in mobile device and tablet use. ECC is a U.S. government-approved and National Security Agency-endorsed encryption method that offers your business enhanced security and better performance than current encryption.

Better Performance, Stronger Security with the ECC Algorithm

Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) creates encryption keys based on the idea of using points on a curve to define the public/private key pair. It is difficult to break using the brute force methods often employed by hackers and offers a faster solution with less computing power than RSA-based encryption.

Key Benefits

• Better security — ECC provides stronger protection against attacks than cur­rent encryption methods. The ECC algorithm relies on a mathematical problem that is more difficult for hackers to attack than the current encryption, making your websites and infrastructure more secure than with traditional methods.
• Better performance — ECC requires a shorter key length to provide a superior level of security, For instance, a 256-bit ECC key provides the same level of protection as a 3072-bit RSA key. The result? You get the security you need without sacrificing performance.
• Investment protection — ECC helps protect your infrastructure investment by providing increased security that can handle the explosion in mobile device connections. ECC key lengths increase at a slower rate than other encryption method keys, potentially extending the life of your existing hardware and giving you a greater return on your investment.
• Mobile advantage — ECC’s smaller key length means smaller certificates that consume less bandwidth. As more of your customers move to smaller devices for their online transactions, ECC offers a better customer experience.

Compatibility

We know that keeping up with security requirements, compliance and threats can be difficult, and that’s why Symantec creates solutions that will make protecting your business easier.

Symantec’s ECC roots have been available in the top three browsers since 2007, so Symantec’s ECC certificates will work in your existing infrastructure as long as modern browsers are used.

Why Acmetek?

Acmetek is a Symantec Website Security Solutions Authorized Distributor and a Platinum Partner. Our certificates include certificate management, vulnerability assessment, malware scanning, and life time support for the certificate. You also get the Norton Secured Seal and Symantec Seal-in-Search to assure customers that they are safe when they search, browse or buy on your websites.

Rest easy knowing your website is protected by the #1 choice for SSL security. Symantec SSL Certificates secure more than one million web servers worldwide— more than any other Certificate Authority. In fact, 97 of the world’s 100 largest SSL-using banks and 81% of the 500 biggest e-commerce sites in North America use SSL Certificates from Symantec.

How to get SSL Certificates with ECC from Acmetek?

Symantec Premium SSL Certificates, Secure Site Pro and Secure Site Pro with EV, now give you the option of using the high security ECC algorithm (included free) to deliver stronger security than standard encryption methods while improving performance.

Visit the Symantec Secure Site Pro pages to sign up for a certificate or renew your current subscription.
or
Become a Partner and create additional revenue stream while we do the heavy lifting for you.

SSLSupportDesk is part of Acmetek who is a trusted advisor of security solutions and services. They provide comprehensive security solutions that include Encryption & Authentication (SSL), Endpoint Protection, Multi-factor Authentication, PKI/Digital Signing Certificates, DDOS, WAF and Malware Removal. If you are looking for security look no further. Acmetek has it all covered!

Contact an SSL Specialist to get a consultation on the Website Security Solutions that can fit your needs.

Become a Partner and create additional revenue stream while the heavy lifting for you.

The FREAK Vulnerability, What is happening?

A new SSL/TLS vulnerability named “FREAK” was identified by several security researchers. This threat allows an attacker to get between a client and server and view what is intended to be a secure and private communication. The vulnerability is primarily due to a bug in OpenSSL client software, but only exploitable on poorly-configured web servers. Both clients and servers are at risk. Website owners can protect their sites by properly configuring their web servers by removing affected ciphers and restarting their servers. Note: That this vulnerability is not related to SSL certificates. Your existing certificate will continue to work as intended. No certificate replacement is needed.

Why should a Acmetek Customer or Partner care?

Customer webservers may be vulnerable to this issue. Organizations should evaluate their web servers to determine if they are vulnerable. Symantec offers an easy-to-use check in its SSL Toolbox to allow customers to easily verify that their web sites are safe or vulnerable.

What Acmetek Customers Must Do?

It’s relatively easy to determine if a website is vulnerable, and if so, it’s relatively easy to change the configuration to block any possible attacks. Any type of web server (Apache, IIS, nginx, etc.) may be vulnerable if its configuration allows the use of so-called Export Ciphers. In Apache/OpenSSLdocumentation, for example, the names of these ciphers all begin with EXP (from https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/mod_ssl.html):

EXP-DES-CBC-SHA

EXP-RC2-CBC-MD5

EXP-RC4-MD5

EXP-EDH-RSA-DES-CBC-SHA

EXP-EDH-DSS-DES-CBC-SHA

EXP-ADH-DES-CBC-SHA

EXP-ADH-RC4-MD5

If a customer’s web server supports these ciphers, the customer must reconfigure the web server by removing these ciphers from the list of supported ciphers, and restart the web server. Although not related to this vulnerability, customers should also disable null ciphers if they are supported, since such ciphers do not provide any encryption of the SSL stream:

NULL-SHA

NULL-MD5

In Windows, the names of export ciphers contain the string “EXPORT”. Here is a list taken from

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/245030:

SSL_RSA_EXPORT1024_WITH_DES_CBC_SHA

SSL_RSA_EXPORT1024_WITH_RC4_56_SHA

SSL_RSA_EXPORT_WITH_RC2_CBC_40_MD5

SSL_RSA_EXPORT_WITH_RC4_40_MD5

TLS_RSA_EXPORT1024_WITH_DES_CBC_SHA

TLS_RSA_EXPORT1024_WITH_RC4_56_SHA

TLS_RSA_EXPORT_WITH_RC2_CBC_40_MD5

TLS_RSA_EXPORT_WITH_RC4_40_MD5

NULL

We advise customers to consult their web server documentation to determine how to view the list of supported ciphers, and how to disable certain ciphers.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: How critical is this vulnerability?

A: This vulnerability appears to be as slightly less critical than POODLE. Although an attack is difficult to carry out it is important for people prioritize this patch.

Q: What should customers do?

A: Customers should remove the above listed affected ciphers (if they are supported by their web server) and restart their web server.

Q: Do SSL certificates have to be replaced?

A: No, this is not required.

SSLSupportDesk is part of Acmetek who is a trusted advisor of security solutions and services. They provide comprehensive security solutions that include Encryption & Authentication (SSL), Endpoint Protection, Multi-factor Authentication, PKI/Digital Signing Certificates, DDOS, WAF and Malware Removal. If you are looking for security look no further. Acmetek has it all covered!

Contact an SSL Specialist to get a consultation on the Website Security Solutions that can fit your needs.

Become a Partner and create additional revenue stream while the heavy lifting for you.

OpenSSL has fixed a high-severity vulnerability that made it possible for attackers to obtain the key that decrypts communications secured in HTTPS based on the ephemeral keys, DSA based Diffie Hellman (DH) key exchange.

The OpenSSL Diffie Hellman issue got assigned CVE-2016-0701 with a severity of High. This vulnerability could allow an attacker to force the peer to perform multiple handshakes using the same private Diffie Hellman key component. Meaning they could use this flaw to conduct man-in-the-middle attacks on the SSL/TLS connection.

OpenSSL released on 28-Jan-2016 their Security Advisory regarding the fixes on their website OpenSSL.org.

OpenSSL provides the option SSL_OP_SINGLE_DH_USE for ephemeral DH (DHE) in TLS. It is not on by default. If the option is not set then the server reuses the same private DH exponent for the life of the server process and would be vulnerable to this attack. It is believed that many popular applications do set this option and would therefore not be at risk.

OpenSSL 1.0.2 users should upgrade to 1.0.2f as stated in the security advisory. That download patch fix can be found here.

Fortunately Diffie Hellman key exchange is not met by the mainstream industry, and more than likely users are not using DSA Diffie Hellman ephemeral keys in order to perform their encryption. But the first line of defense to keep hackers at bay is to update their systems and not become stagnant in security.

SSLSupportDesk is part of Acmetek who is a trusted advisor of security solutions and services. They provide comprehensive security solutions that include Encryption & Authentication (SSL), Endpoint Protection, Multi-factor Authentication, PKI/Digital Signing Certificates, DDOS, WAF and Malware Removal. If you are looking for security look no further. Acmetek has it all covered!

Contact an SSL Specialist to get a consultation on the Website Security Solutions that can fit your needs.

Become a Partner and create additional revenue stream while the heavy lifting for you.

Just recently there has been a lot of news regarding a vulnerability with SSLv2 (SSL2.0) and what has been named the Drown Attack. You will see articles saying “Drown Attack effects over 1/3 of the worlds websites, ” “No one is secure on the internet anymore,”  More than a Million sites effected!” etc.. the list goes on and on.

Allow me to calm some fears you may have..

Unless your have NOT touched your server system since 2011 then don’t worry. SSLv2 which was created back in 1995 was considered an obsolete protocol back in 2011, and more than likely you are not using it. Because the following…

• Browsers such as Chrome have by default put a stop to the use of this protocol as default on their browsers since 2011.
• You would have seen errors within your browser regarding the use of this the SSLv2 protocol running on the website, and would have turned this protocol off already.
• Every couple of years a Digital Certificate gets updated on server systems that is part of encryption, and during this time you probably used a certificate checker to see if everything is ok. That SSL Checking tool more than likely told you that status of that server system and would have made you aware of SSLv2 being obsolete years ago.
• If you are PCI compliant then you are not using SSLv2, or any SSL protocol for that matter.

The DROWN stands for Decrypting Rsa with Obsolete and Weakened eNcryption and it allows attackers to break the encryption enabling that hacker  to read or steal sensitive communications, including passwords, credit card numbers, trade secrets, or financial data.

On March 01, 2016, The United States Computer Emergency Readness Team (US-Cert) released this on their website. 

Network traffic encrypted using an RSA-based SSL certificate may be decrypted if enough SSLv2 handshake data can be collected. Exploitation of this vulnerability – referred to as DROWN in public reporting – may allow a remote attacker to obtain the private key of a server supporting SSLv2.

US-CERT encourages users and administrators to review Vulnerability Note VU#583776 and the US-CERT OpenSSL Current Activity for additional information and mitigation details.

So this really shouldn’t be news since SSLv2 was considered obsolete back in 2011. It was bound to happen sooner or later.

If you do happen to be effected by SSLv2 or would like to double check Qualys has an amazing SSL checking tool that goes deep into the health of a server system. SSLSupportDesk.com has a great article on how to use and read this checker featured here.  

More information can be found https://drownattack.com/

SSLSupportDesk is part of Acmetek who is a trusted advisor of security solutions and services. They provide comprehensive security solutions that include Encryption & Authentication (SSL), Endpoint Protection, Multi-factor Authentication, PKI/Digital Signing Certificates, DDOS, WAF and Malware Removal. If you are looking for security look no further. Acmetek has it all covered!

Contact an SSL Specialist to get a consultation on the Website Security Solutions that can fit your needs.

Become a Partner and create additional revenue stream while the heavy lifting for you.