{"id":2352,"date":"2013-05-27T10:00:11","date_gmt":"2013-05-27T14:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=2352"},"modified":"2013-05-27T10:00:11","modified_gmt":"2013-05-27T14:00:11","slug":"google-plans-to-beef-up-its-ssl-encryption-keys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/05\/27\/google-plans-to-beef-up-its-ssl-encryption-keys\/","title":{"rendered":"Google plans to beef up its SSL encryption keys"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/2039724\/google-to-lengthen-ssl-encryption-keys-from-august.html\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/nccomputertech.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/05\/google_search-100031942-gallery.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Google plans to upgrade the security of its SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates, an important component of secure communications.<br \/>\nSSL certificates are used to encrypt communication and verify the integrity of another party with which a user is interacting. Its strength lies in the length of the private signing keys used for the certificates.<br \/>\nKeys that are less than 1,024 bits are considered weak, and 512- and 768-bit keys have been factored to reveal a private key. Google has been using 1,024-bit keys, but will move to 2,048-bit keys, wrote Stephen McHenry, Google&#8217;s director of information security engineering, in a blog post Thursday.<br \/>\n&#8220;We will begin switching to the new 2048-bit certificates on August 1st, to ensure adequate time for a careful rollout before the end of the year,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;We&#8217;re also going to change the root certificate that signs all of our SSL certificates because it has a 1024-bit key.&#8221;<br \/>\nMcHenry warned that most client software won&#8217;t have trouble with the change, but client software embedded in some phones, printers, set-top boxes, gaming consoles and cameras could have problems.<br \/>\nHe wrote that devices making SSL connections with Google will need to support normal validation of the certificate chain, maintain an extensive set of root certificates and support Subject Alternative Names (SANs), which allows one SSL certificate to validate several hosts.<br \/>\nGoogle&#8217;s move is prudent, but SSL still has other weak points.<br \/>\nHundreds of organizations around the world can issue SSL certificates that are tied back to a so-called Certificate Authority. These organizations, known as intermediates, have been targeted by hackers. Creating a fraudulent certificate SSL certificate can make it appear a person is visiting a legitimate website when in fact it is fraudulent.<br \/>\nGoogle was the victim of such an attack in 2011 after a Certificate Authority called DigiNotar was breached. Hackers generated at least 500 fraudulent SSL certificates, including one that was used in attempted man-in-the-middle attacks against Gmail users in Iran.<br \/>\nIn 2009, security researcher Moxie Marlinspike created a tool called SSLstrip, which allows an attacker to intercept and stop a SSL connection, although there is a fix that will block such an attack. Attackers using the tool can spy on whatever data is sent to a fake website.<br \/>\nvia <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/2039724\/google-to-lengthen-ssl-encryption-keys-from-august.html\" target=\"_blank\">Google plans to beef up its SSL encryption keys | PCWorld<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Google plans to upgrade the security of its SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates, an important component of secure communications. SSL [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,10],"tags":[325,424,1024],"class_list":["post-2352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security","category-technology","tag-encryption","tag-google","tag-ssl"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-BW","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9452,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2018\/11\/19\/internal-bug-discovery-security-now-693\/","url_meta":{"origin":2352,"position":0},"title":"Internal Bug Discovery &#8211; Security Now 693","author":"NCCT","date":"November 19, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/ClVI9PMQGCY Australia vs Encryption, Google+ Bugs Hasten its Demise -- Australia's recently passed anti-encryption legislation -- Details of a couple more mega-breaches including a bit of Marriott follow-up -- A welcome call for legislation from Microsoft -- A new twist on online advertising click fraud -- The DHS is interested\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Microsoft&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/ClVI9PMQGCY\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9305,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2018\/02\/26\/this-week-in-tech-655-banana-is-phone\/","url_meta":{"origin":2352,"position":1},"title":"This Week in Tech 655: Banana Is Phone","author":"NCCT","date":"February 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/3Ndfvf28O5o Samsung announces 2 new phones as Mobile World Congress kicks off in Barcelona. iCloud keys are stored in China. 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Intel knew about flaws in chips but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/3Ndfvf28O5o\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9330,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2018\/04\/03\/security-now-657-protonmail\/","url_meta":{"origin":2352,"position":2},"title":"Security Now 657: ProtonMail","author":"NCCT","date":"April 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/OeSZg-ph3Ns This week we discuss \"DrupalGeddon2\", Cloudflare's new DNS offering, a reminder about GRC's DNS Benchmark, Microsoft's Meltdown meltdown, the persistent iOS QR Code flaw and its long-awaited v11.3 update, another VPN user IP leak, more bug bounty news, an ill-fated-seeming new eMail initiative, Free electricity, a policy change at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Security&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/OeSZg-ph3Ns\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9511,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2019\/01\/22\/millsplain-it-to-me-this-week-in-tech-702\/","url_meta":{"origin":2352,"position":3},"title":"Millsplain It to Me &#8211; This Week in Tech 702","author":"NCCT","date":"January 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/EtTfFJVBZ6s -Apple's Tim Cook Calls for Data Privacy. -773M Passwords Pwned - How to Find Out If Yours Was. -Amazon Tries to Make Alexa Sound \"Newsy.\" -Google Buys Fossil. -74% of Facebook Users are Clueless. -Facebook's 10 Year Challenge. -Atari Founder Making Alexa Board Games. -Stop Using Windows Phone! -Tokyo\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Apple&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Apple","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/apple\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/EtTfFJVBZ6s\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9938,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2025\/05\/16\/google-antitrust-ruling-breakdown-what-this-means-for-chrome-and-search\/","url_meta":{"origin":2352,"position":4},"title":"Google Antitrust Ruling Breakdown &#8211; What This Means for Chrome and Search","author":"NCCT","date":"May 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/ELXjmrnN1uM The panel breaks down the antitrust ruling that could force Google to sell Chrome, stop paying Apple billions for default search placement, and fundamentally reshape the internet. 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