Why are we still using the CA model? (Re: Microsoft deems all DigiNotar certificates untrustworthy, releases updates)

Mon Sep 12 13:36:53 UTC 2011

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gregory Edigarov [mailto:greg at bestnet.kharkov.ua]
> I.e. instead of a set of trusted CAs there will be one distributed net
> of servers, that act as a cert storage?
> I do not see how that could help...
> Well, I do not even see how can one trust any certificate that is
> issued by commercial organization.
> 

There should be a government body to issue certificates then ;-)

But Gregory is right, you cannot really trust anybody completely. Even the larger and more respectable commercial organisations will be unable to resist <insert intel organisation here> when they ask for dodgy certs so they can intercept something..

No, as soon as you have somebody who is not yourself in control without any third party verifiably independent oversight then you have to carefully define what you mean by trust.

--
Leigh Porter

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