In association with heise online

20 April 2011, 20:24

"Honest Achmed" asks for trust

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • submit to slashdot
  • StumbleUpon
  • submit to reddit

SSL icon An unknown person who goes by the name of "Honest Achmed" has requested that Mozilla accept him as a trusted Certification Authority. The alleged used car salesman ("Honest Achmed's Used Cars") makes no secret of his plan: Once he has Certification Authority (CA) status, his plan is to "sell bucket-loads of certificates and make lots of money."

In many places, the request humorously puts the finger on various points that have been criticised in existing CAs. For instance, Achmed freely explains that, should his application be successful, he will allow his cousin Osman, his uncles Mehmet and Iskender, and possibly also his cousin's friend to issue certificates. He says that he will naturally sell his certificates to absolutely anyone who will give him money for them. Also, Achmed guarantees that no certificate will be issued without payment having been received.

However, the Bugzilla entry has already been given the status "RESOLVED INVALID"; Mozilla will, therefore, not accepting Honest Achmed as a Certification Authority despite having amused may in the security business.

(djwm)

Print Version | Send by email | Permalink: http://h-online.com/-1231314
 


  • July's Community Calendar





The H Open

The H Security

The H Developer

The H Internet Toolkit