And the big secret key is...4. Trusted SSL certificates.

rcy026

Hopefully you are all aware of the whole SSL debacle with eMudhra. It has been kind of overshadowed by the php exploits so if you missed it, start at https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/10/disgraced-emudhra-drops-out-of-tls-business-following-certificate-debacle/

eMudhra was a trusted authority in all major browsers and os's, and clearly they should not have been. These guys were approved for codesigning so it's not only websites we are talking about here.
Is it a bad idea to simply trust your browser when it tells you the certificate is ok?
Do you guys blindly trust certificates as long as the chain checks out?

AnthonySmith

At this rate I can see governments just shutting down public internet access.

rcy026

@AnthonySmith said:
At this rate I can see governments just shutting down public internet access.

I've been involved with government work and trust me, you are not far off.
I know for a fact that some governments already uses a list of certificate authorities they are not allowed to use or trust, eventough they are publicly trusted by everyone else. What this list is based on I have not been able to figure out. I've asked, but understandably it's on a need to know basis and I do not need to know.

AnthonySmith

@rcy026 said:

@AnthonySmith said:
At this rate I can see governments just shutting down public internet access.

I've been involved with government work and trust me, you are not far off.
I know for a fact that some governments already uses a list of certificate authorities they are not allowed to use or trust, eventough they are publicly trusted by everyone else. What this list is based on I have not been able to figure out. I've asked, but understandably it's on a need to know basis and I do not need to know.

I used to be on a few air gapped government networks too, so paranoid that someone was employed to check that certain physical cables and desktops were not in physical range of each other and one network had ceramic separators to change the noise from spinning disks.

Used to feel like totally overkill and people laughed... I am no longer laughing