14 DAY TRIAL // A security issue plaguing Chrome has prompted Google’s team of software engineers to roll out updated builds of the Stable version for all supported platforms, including Mac OS X.
Updated to 13.0.782.220 for Mac, Windows, Linux, and Chrome Frame, Chrome now revokes trust for SSL certificates issued by DigiNotar-controlled intermediate CAs used by the Dutch PKIoverheid program, according to Anthony Laforge, Chrome program manager.
The Mountain View search giant offer some details on these security issues on the Google Security Blog where users can read about DigiNotar and an update from Mozilla, whose popular web browser also revokes trust in these certificates.
Google said on August 29 that they received “reports of attempted SSL man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks against Google users, whereby someone tried to get between them and encrypted Google services.”
“The people affected were primarily located in Iran,” wrote Heather Adkins, information security manager. “The attacker used a fraudulent SSL certificate issued by DigiNotar, a root certificate authority that should not issue certificates for Google (and has since revoked it).”
Adkins acknowledged in August that Chrome users were not affected by this attack as the browser was able to detect the fraudulent certificate.
However, Google was keen on keeping users on the safe side by planning to “disable the DigiNotar certificate authority in Chrome while investigations continue.”
The latest Chrome Stable release is the end result of said plans.
Adkins also informs that Mozilla quickly responded to the threat in a similar manner.
Both Chrome and Firefox users will now receive alerts when visiting websites that use DigiNotar certificates.
“Microsoft also has taken prompt action,” Adkins noted.
She advises users to “keep their web browsers and operating systems up to date and pay attention to web browser security warnings,” in order to help discourage unwanted surveillance. Iran users in particular are targeted by this warning.
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