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News: eMudhra limited has revealed that eight private keys associated with its certificates have been compromised.
About eMudhra Limited Controversy
- eMudhra is an Indian digital trust company for providing digital certificates and identity verification services to ensure secure online transactions.
- It is India’s largest certifying authority in the digital signature certificate market.
- Foundation Year: It was founded in 2008.
- Listed by: It is listed by India’s Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA) under the Information Technology Act, 2000.
- Note: Other licensed authorities include Safescrypt, Capricorn and nCode.
- It is also associated with Aadhaar-linked electronic know-your-customer (e-KYC) services.
- Role: It issues digital signature certificates, provides electronic signing services and supplies technology for authenticating online identities and securing digital transactions.
- Operability: It operates in more than 35 countries and serves businesses, financial institutions and government organisations.
- Role of Certification Authorities: These authorities are organisations entrusted with issuing digital certificates that establish the identity of websites, individuals or organisations.
- How these certificates are issued: These certificates are issued through a hierarchy consisting of trusted root authorities, intermediate authorities and certificates issued to websites or other end users.
- These certificates form part of the Internet’s public key infrastructure (PKI), which allows users and computer systems to verify identities and communicate securely.
- Example: When a user opens a website beginning with HTTPS, the browser checks its digital certificate to establish whether it can trust the website’s identity and create an encrypted connection.
- Controversy related to eMudhra certificate: The issue with eMudhra certificates is that it had eight digital certificates with weak private keys that attackers could potentially recover within seconds.
- This could allow attackers to create fake certificates, impersonate legitimate websites, or make malicious software appear trustworthy.
