The Dutch
government is trying to minimize the effect of the DigiNotar hack on its IT
infrastructure but warned it's a time-consuming process: Not all the SSL certificates
can be replaced on the fly.
Piet Hein
Donner, minister of the interior, said in a press conference on Tuesday that
the government will work as quickly as possible to replace all the DigiNotar
SSL certificates in use. However, if the certificates are withdrawn immediately
it will be damaging, he warned.
"It
particularly concerns the fully automated communication between
computers," Donner said. If the certificates are withdrawn right now it
would disturb or even block Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication. That is why
the Dutch government chose a "phased and controlled" migration to
other certificates. While website certificates should be replaced by Saturday,
he said, replacing those involved in M2M communication will take longer.
For the
same reason, Microsoft agreed on Tuesday to postpone an automatic software update
for the Netherlands that revokes the trust in all DigiNotar certificates for
one week. Next week the software update will be rolled out in the Netherlands
with an opt-out option. Companies who want to implement the software update
this week have to do that themselves. According to Donner this ensures there is
no significant disturbance in digital communications in the Netherlands.
On Sept. 2,
the Dutch government announced in a night-time press conference, the first in
Dutch IT history, that all DigiNotar certificates were to be banned and
replaced. According to a report by the security firm Fox-IT published on
Monday, 531 fraudulent certificates were issued after DigiNotar was hacked from
an Iranian IP address in June. The firm also found proof that the
"DigiNotar PKIoverheid CA" certificates the Dutch government uses
were compromised. Fox-IT found no evidence that government certificates were
misused.
Ronald
Prins, CEO of Fox-IT, said on the Dutch television show "Nieuwsuur"
on Monday that the real damage for Dutch citizens was limited, but that the
implications could have been big. DigiNotar was used for DigiD, an identity
management platform used by Dutch government agencies including the Tax and
Customs Administration. Hackers could have monitored DigiD traffic and would
even be able to manipulate tax filings if they wanted to.
The
government replaced the DigiNotar DigiD certificates with PKIoverheid CA
certificates from Getronics PinkRoccade, one of the seven (including DigiNotar)
SSL certificate providers the government uses. Other problems occurred with the
systems of the Rijksdienst voor het Wegverkeer (RDW), which handles vehicle
registrations and inspections in the Netherlands. The RDW switched to VeriSign
certificates but still has to use DigiNotar for M2M communication, spokesperson
Sjoerd Weiland told the Dutch IDG news site Webwereld on Monday.
According
to Weiland it is impossible to say when the switch from DigiNotar to another CA
can be done. Every business connected to the RDW, including the police and
insurance companies, has to switch to new certificates at the same time to
prevent the total collapse of all M2M communication. Local governments could
have the same problem as the RDW. Minister Donner said there are "some
disturbances" in communications between the RDW and local governments.
Dutch
financial transactions, Amsterdam's Schiphol airport and the national railways
were not affected. "Although several sectors are meanwhile suffering from
disruptions, major uncontrollable problems have not appeared to date,"
Minister Donner and Minister Ivo Opstelten of Public Safety and Justice stated
in a letter to the lower house of Parliament. In total DigiNotar issued 57,956
certificates in different sectors in the Netherlands.
Because
DigiNotar was hacked in June and the company knew about the hack shortly
afterward but did not inform the Dutch government, the attorney general has
begun an investigation to determine if DigiNotar can be held formally
responsible for the ongoing crisis. Telecom watchdog OPTA is also investigating
DigiNotar. That investigation is aimed at the way the certificates were issued.
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| (Photo: RNW) |
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