GlobalSign is a WebTrust certified certificate authority

Certificate authority

In cryptography, a certificate authority, or certification authority, is an entity that issues digital certificates. The digital certificate certifies the ownership of a public key by the named subject of the certificate...

 that provides publicly trusted X.509

X.509

In cryptography, X.509 is an ITU-T standard for a public key infrastructure and Privilege Management Infrastructure . X.509 specifies, amongst other things, standard formats for public key certificates, certificate revocation lists, attribute certificates, and a certification path validation...

 compliant SSL, including the new EV SSL Extended Validation Certificate, S/MIME

S/MIME

S/MIME is a standard for public key encryption and signing of MIME data. S/MIME is on an IETF standards track and defined in a number of documents, most importantly RFCs. S/MIME was originally developed by RSA Data Security Inc...

 and code signing

Code signing

Code signing is the process of digitally signing executables and scripts to confirm the software author and guarantee that the code has not been altered or corrupted since it was signed by use of a cryptographic hash....

 certificates for use on all popular platforms including Mobile. Other services include a Trusted Root Certificate Authority chaining program for trusted PKI

Public key infrastructure

Public Key Infrastructure is a set of hardware, software, people, policies, and procedures needed to create, manage, distribute, use, store, and revoke digital certificates. In cryptography, a PKI is an arrangement that binds public keys with respective user identities by means of a certificate...

 deployments, which allows the widely distributed and trusted GlobalSign root CA certificates to cryptographically chain subordinate root CAs for use in Microsoft CA and other inhouse CAs. Such chaining allows these non-commercial CAs to control their own internal PKI, typically issuing SSL and digital IDs for secure email and two factor authentication. These solutions enable end users to conduct secure online transactions and data submission, providing tamper-proof distributable code as well as to bind identities to client certificates for email security and remote two factor authentication, such as SSL VPN. GlobalSign has introduced digital certificates for signing Adobe Systems

Adobe Systems

Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...

 PDF documents with their DocumentSign USB & Hardware Security Module solutions and also Microsoft Office documents and VBA Macros with their Office Security Suite.

Alleged Security Breach

The hacker responsible for the DigiNotar

DigiNotar

DigiNotar was a Dutch certificate authority owned by VASCO Data Security International. On September 3, 2011, after it had become clear that a security breach had resulted in the fraudulent issuing of certificates, the Dutch government took over operational management of DigiNotar's systems...

 hack, the infamous ComodoHacker, (the hacker also responsible for the security breach at Comodo Group) claims that he has also hacked the systems of GlobalSign and GlobalSign takes this claim so seriously that they have stopped the signing/issueing of certificates.

They also hired Fox-IT

Fox-IT

Fox-IT is a Dutch consultancy company based in Delft. Fox-IT is active in the information technology security sector. Their mission-statement is: "Making technical and innovative contributions for a more secure society."-History:...

 to audit and investigate their environment because Fox-IT has a lot of knowledge on the matter and this particular hacker

See also

• Certificate Authority
  Certificate authority
  In cryptography, a certificate authority, or certification authority, is an entity that issues digital certificates. The digital certificate certifies the ownership of a public key by the named subject of the certificate...
  
  
• Cryptography
  Cryptography
  Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...
  
  
• Extended Validation Certificate
• Public key certificate
  Public key certificate
  In cryptography, a public key certificate is an electronic document which uses a digital signature to bind a public key with an identity — information such as the name of a person or an organization, their address, and so forth...
  
  
• Public Key Infrastructure
  Public key infrastructure
  Public Key Infrastructure is a set of hardware, software, people, policies, and procedures needed to create, manage, distribute, use, store, and revoke digital certificates. In cryptography, a PKI is an arrangement that binds public keys with respective user identities by means of a certificate...
  
  
• SSL
• Transport Layer Security
  Transport Layer Security
  Transport Layer Security and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer , are cryptographic protocols that provide communication security over the Internet...
  
  

External links

• GlobalSign North America web site
• GlobalSign China web site
• GlobalSign Japan & Asia web site
• GlobalSign Europe web site
• GlobalSign United Kingdom web site
• GlobalSign Germany (Preferred Partner web site)
• GlobalSign Netherlands Preferred Partner web site

• Certified Document Services Adobe's PDF signing technology