Certificate Authority Security Council

The Certificate Authority Security Council (CASC) is a multi-vendor industry advocacy group created to conduct research, promote Internet security standards and educate the public on Internet security issues.

Certificate Authority Security Council
AbbreviationCASC
FormationFebruary 2013
TypeIndustry Advocacy Organization
PurposeExploration and promotion of best practices that advance trusted SSL deployment and CA operations as well as the security of the Internet in general
Region served
Worldwide
Membership
7 publicly trusted PKI authorities
Websitecasecurity.org

History

The group was founded in February 2013 with the seven largest certificate authorities, issuers of SSL certificates — Comodo, Symantec,[1] Trend Micro, DigiCert, Entrust,[2] GlobalSign[3] and GoDaddy.[4][5][6][7][8] DigiCert withdrew[9] from the group June 15, 2018.

Objectives

The CASC supports the efforts of the CA/Browser Forum and other standards-setting bodies.[10] They support the development of enhancements that improve the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and the operations of the certificate authorities (CA).[11][12]

According to Robin Alden, CTO of Comodo and member of the Council, the CASC will serve as a united front for all of the CAs involved: "While not a standards-setting organization, we’re committed to supplementing standards-setting organizations by providing education, research, and advocacy on the best practices and use of SSL." [13]

Membership requirements

The CASC limits membership to SSL certificate authorities that meet their requirements for reputation, operation, and security. Members are required to undergo an annual audit and to adhere to industry standards, such as the CA/Browser Forum’s Baseline Requirements and Network Security Guidelines.[14]

Industry initiatives

The group works collaboratively to create and define the initiatives to improve the understanding of policies and their impact on Internet infrastructure.

Certificate Revocation and OCSP Stapling

The group's primary focus[15] was promoting an understanding of the importance of certificate-revocation checking and the benefits of OCSP stapling. The protocol is intended to ensure that web users are aware when they visit a web site with a revoked or expired SSL certificate.[16]

Securing Software Distribution with Digital Code Signing

The group has also worked to secure software distribution with digital code signing.[17] Code signing certificates play a key role in helping users identify authentic software code from reputable publishers and receive the assurance that the code has not been tampered with beforehand.

References
  1. Let’s Build a More Secure Future | Symantec Connect Community
  2. Entrust Joins World's Leading CAs to Form Certificate Authority Security Council, Advance Internet Security and Trusted SSL Ecosystem - Feb 14, 2013
  3. "The Paypers. Insights in payments". Archived from the original on 2015-07-02. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
  4. Announcing the Certificate Authority Security Council | Inside GoDaddy.com
  5. "Major Certificate Authorities Unite In The Name Of SSL Security - Dark Reading". Archived from the original on 2013-04-10. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
  6. "Multivendor power council formed to address digital certificate issues - Network World". Archived from the original on 2013-07-28. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
  7. Website Certificate Authorities Set Up Security Council for Advocacy, Research
  8. SSL Certificate Authority Security Council Takes Root | Electronic Staff Archived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine
  9. "Notice of Withdrawal from the CA Security Council | DigiCert Blog". DigiCert. 2018-06-15. Retrieved 2018-07-02.
  10. About the CA Security Council
  11. CA Security Council | World’s Leading Certificate Authorities Come Together to Advance Internet Security and the Trusted SSL Ecosystem
  12. Certificate authorities band together to boost security - Network World Archived February 25, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  13. CAs Form New Alliance to Focus on Security Issues, Education | threatpost Archived March 8, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  14. CA Security Council | About the CA Security Council
  15. "New Certificate Authorities group promises better revocation checking - Techworld.com". Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
  16. Certificate Authorities to push for better certificate-revocation checking - Computerworld
  17. Kerner, Sean Michael. "Code Signing Seen as Effective Way to Safeguard App Security". eWeek.
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