Is the internet still safe?
PITY THE cyber-defenders. Occasionally, the industry must burst into action following the unheralded revelation of a vulnerability in some widely used software. Rarely, however, must they do so several times in the same week.
On October 20th the security teams at major web browsers received an unusual email. It read “we have a problem here” and was accompanied by a file containing eight private security keys: randomly generated numbers used to encrypt communications across the entire internet. Such keys should be 116 digits long to ensure security. Those in the email, originally issued by an Indian authority, were no longer than three. One was a private key of just “4”. To top things off, the email was signed simply “Wayne”.
Revoking such keys from important central databases is manageable. Checking every system has updated accordingly is hard work. Major web browsers keep their blacklists up-to-date, but many internet-connected systems do...
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