Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) has taken an audacious decision of not recognizing the trust certificates issued by the authority. Such a decision, according to a Chinese Internet agency is ‘unacceptable and unintelligible.’
Why Google refused CNNIC authority?
The search giant has taken this decision following an investigation of a potential security lapse that took place last month, and therefore, has made an announcement through its official security blog that the China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC) issued certificates will not be recognized by it any further. Now, there are good chances that users of Google’s Chrome may get a warning while visiting the CNNIC certified sites.
The certificates issued by CNNIC came under scrutiny, when an official Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) blog claimed that MCS Holdings based in Cairo has been allowed by the Chinese agency to issue unauthorized certificates for various Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) domains. According to Google, issuing unauthorized certificates increased the chance of connection between users and those websites getting hacked. Google, further told “once suitable technical and procedural controls are in place,” CNNIC is welcome to reapply for the recognition.
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) said Wednesday, “neither we nor CNNIC believe any further unauthorized digital certificates have been issued, nor do we believe the misissued certificates were used outside the limited scope of MCS Holdings’ test network,” adding that the agency will be working to make sure that similar incidents do not occur in future.
CNNIC asks Google to reconsider decision
CNNIC has responded to Google’s announcement, and has advised the company to revisit its decision considering the user rights and interests. Further, the agency assured the users, who have already got the trust certificates issued by CNNIC, that their lawful rights and interests will not get affected. A certificate issued by CNNIC is primarily to convey the users that the connection established between an Internet user and a website is secure.
CNNIC is largely recognized as the constructor, operator and administrator of Chinese information society, taking up the tasks such as deploying and certifying IP addresses and web domain names.
Following the decision from Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG), Microsoft and also seized the trust of those unauthorized certificates last week, according to Reuters. In 2010, Google closed it local search engine in China owing to privacy issues, and presently, majority of its services are inaccessible in the region.
