{"id":8637,"date":"2017-08-08T11:10:02","date_gmt":"2017-08-08T19:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2017\/08\/08\/news-2410\/"},"modified":"2017-08-08T11:10:02","modified_gmt":"2017-08-08T19:10:02","slug":"news-2410","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2017\/08\/08\/news-2410\/","title":{"rendered":"Explained: security certificates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Credit to Author: Pieter Arntz| Date: Tue, 08 Aug 2017 18:17:21 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a result of my PowerShell series [1<\/a>],[2<\/a>],[3<\/a>], where I used the handling of certificates as an example, mainly because I wanted a method to keep track easier of which certificates were being added by malware, I’ve have received some questions about how security certificates work and how they stopped our software from working.<\/p>\n

First, it helps to take a look at your own certificates. Go ahead and open the Microsoft Certificates Management Console. You can do this by typing certmgr.msc <\/strong>in the search field of your start button. You will have to do this as an administrator of the system.<\/p>\n

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You should see an overview of your certificates divided up into categories. The most used and usually the most important categories are Trusted Root Certification Authorities and Untrusted Certificates.<\/p>\n

What are these certificates?<\/h2>\n

Root certificates are a method to prove that a communication you are receiving (from a website, by mail, or otherwise) comes from the source that it claims to be. This is done by public key encryption<\/a> to establish a trust between the holders of the public and the private keys. But since it would be impossible to store certificates for every site we’ve ever visited or wish to visit, the system of certificate authorities (CA) was set up. To establish trust that a certificate is genuine, it is digitally signed by a root certificate belonging to a trusted certificate authority. Operating systems and browsers maintain lists of trusted CA root certificates so they can easily verify that they have been issued and signed.<\/p>\n

You may have seen prompts warning you about a website\u2019s security certificate, or as in the example below, a mismatch between the certificate and the name of the site:<\/p>\n

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The image shows which checks have been made before allowing a free exchange of information:<\/p>\n