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DigiCert

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DigiCert, Inc.
Company typePrivate company
IndustryInternet security, Public key infrastructure, IoT security
Founded2003; 21 years ago (2003)
Headquarters
Lehi, Utah, U.S.
Number of locations
12
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Number of employees
1,000+
SubsidiariesCyberTrust
GeoTrust
QuoVadis
RapidSSL
Thawte
Mocana
DNS Made Easy
Websitewww.digicert.com

DigiCert, Inc. is a digital security company headquartered in Lehi, Utah.[1] DigiCert provides public key infrastructure (PKI) and validation required for issuing digital certificates or TLS/SSL certificates, acting as a certificate authority (CA) and trusted third party.

History

Example of a DigiCert issued wildcard certificate for *.wikipedia.org

DigiCert was founded by Ken Bretschneider in 2003 and sold in 2012.[2][3][4] Bretschneider stepped down from the position of CEO to retain business strategy oversight as executive board chairman while Nicholas Hales became CEO.[5][6] In 2016, the company named John Merrill CEO,[7] who left the company in 2022.[8]

In 2005, DigiCert became a founding member of the CA/Browser Forum.[9]

In 2007, DigiCert partnered with Microsoft to develop the industry's first multi-domain (SAN) certificate.[10]

In 2015, DigiCert acquired the CyberTrust Enterprise SSL business from Verizon Enterprise Solutions, becoming the world's second-largest certificate authority for high-assurance or extended validation (EV) TLS/SSL certificates.[11]

On August 28, 2015, private equity firm Thoma Bravo acquired a majority stake in DigiCert, with TA Associates holding a minority share.[12]

In 2017, DigiCert acquired the TLS/SSL and PKI businesses from Symantec, including brands GeoTrust, Rapid SSL (part of GeoTrust), Thawte and Verisign[13] The acquisition resulted from questions first raised in 2015 by web browsers Google and Mozilla about the authenticity of certificates issued by Symantec, which represented one-third of all TLS/SSL certificates on the web.[14][15] In September 2017, Google and Mozilla announced they would "reduce, and ultimately remove, trust in Symantec's Root Keys in order to uphold user's security and privacy when browsing the web".

The final distrust deadline for certificates chaining to Symantec roots was set for October 2018.[16] Symantec agreed to transfer its certificate business to its top TLS/SSL competitor, DigiCert, whose roots were trusted by browsers.[17] In December 2017, DigiCert began issuing free replacements for all distrusted certificates from Symantec, GeoTrust, RapidSSL, Thawte, and VeriSign. By Oct. 2018, the company had revalidated more than 550,000 organizational identities and issued more than 5 million replacement certificates for affected customers.[18]

In 2018, DigiCert acquired QuoVadis, a trust service provider (TSP) headquartered in Switzerland offering qualified digital certificates, PKI services, and PrimoSign electronic signature software.[19] Qualified digital certificates from QuoVadis (now backed by DigiCert) comply with eIDAS, a set of EU standards for electronic transactions requiring legal proof of authentication. The EU Payment Services Directive mandated that banks and other financial institutions operating in Europe begin using qualified digital certificates by Jun. 2019. According to DigiCert, "the QuoVadis acquisition aligns with the company's vision of providing globally dispersed and robust PKI-based solutions with local support."[20]

In 2019, the company announced a new R&D division called DigiCert Labs, "an initiative dedicated to researching and developing innovative approaches to security challenges".[21] DigiCert Labs will collaborate with other enterprise labs – including Microsoft Research, Utimaco, ISARA, and Gemalto – and make grants to universities for the study of topics related to authentication, data integrity, encryption and identity. Initial research projects will focus on post-quantum cryptography and machine learning.[22] In 2019, DigiCert also launched the first post-quantum computing tool kit.[23]

In 2019, Clearlake Capital Group, L.P., a leading private investment firm, and TA Associates, an existing investor, reached an agreement to make a strategic growth investment in DigiCert. As part of the transaction, Clearlake, and TA Associates become equal partners in the company.[24][25]

In January 2022, DigiCert acquired IoT security company Mocana.[26] In June 2022, the company acquired DNS Made Easy, a DNS services provider.[27]

On October 19, 2022, DigiCert named Dr. Amit Sinha as CEO and board member.[8] Amit had previously led technology and innovation at the cloud security company Zscaler the previous 12 years.

Industry Involvement

DigiCert is involved in industry and regulatory groups and projects,[28][29][30] such as:

Criticism

DigiCert Inc. is not related to Digicert Sdn. Bhd, a Malaysian-based certification authority that issues certificates with weak keys and had its trust revoked by web browsers.[42][43][44]

DigiCert faced criticism during its 2017 acquisition of Symantec's certificate business. The acquisition was prompted by concerns from major web browsers about the authenticity of certificates issued by Symantec, leading to a reduction in trust for Symantec's root keys. DigiCert moved Symantec customers to its platform while maintaining the validity of existing certificates during the transition.[45]

In 2019, Google security researcher Scott Helme found approximately a million dollars worth of extended verification certificates that needed to be revoked due to faulty data, a significant portion of which were DigiCert certificates.[46][47]

In 2022, DigiCert was condemned by Scott Helme for pushing[48] QWAC scheme of certificate similar to EV certificates that undermined trust in certificates.[49][50][51]

References

  1. ^ Harvey, Tom (August 3, 2017). "Utah-Based Digicert Paying Nearly $1 Billion to Acquire Symantec's Website Security Offerings". Salt Lake Tribune. Archived from the original on August 11, 2017.
  2. ^ Metz, Rachel (December 15, 2015). "Inside the First VR Theme Park". MIT Technology Review. Archived from the original on August 12, 2020.
  3. ^ Barnes, Brooks (February 19, 2017). "With New Invention, Virtual Reality's Potential for Magic Gets Real". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 20, 2017.
  4. ^ "Utah's DigiCert reorganizes its management". Salt Lake Tribune. April 17, 2012. Archived from the original on November 7, 2023.
  5. ^ "Digicert Promotes Their COO, LogLogic is Acquire, and More Company News". SC World. July 2, 2012.
  6. ^ "Utah's DigiCert Reorganizes Its Management". The Salt Lake Tribune. April 17, 2012. Archived from the original on August 3, 2017.
  7. ^ “DigiCert names CEO”. Daily Herald. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  8. ^ a b "DigiCert Appoints Industry Veteran Amit Sinha as Chief Executive Officer" (Press release). DigiCert / PR Newswire. October 19, 2022. Archived from the original on September 18, 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Members". CAB Forum. August 31, 2013. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  10. ^ "DigiCert Fact Sheet" (PDF). digicert.com. [citation needed]
  11. ^ “DigiCert Acquires Verizon Enterprise SSL Business”. DigiCert.com. Retrieved 2019-03-01.
  12. ^ Kerner, Sean Michael (August 28, 2015). "Thoma Bravo Invests in Security Firm DigiCert". eWeek.
  13. ^ Raymond, Art (August 3, 2017). "Lehi's DigiCert swallows web security competitor in $1 billion deal". Deseret News. Archived from the original on August 4, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  14. ^ Sharwood, Simon (August 3, 2017). "Symantec offloads its certs and web security biz to DigiCert". The Register. Archived from the original on August 12, 2020.
  15. ^ Constantin, Lucian (March 24, 2017). "To punish Symantec, Google may distrust a third of the web's SSL certificates". PC World. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021.
  16. ^ “Chrome’s Plan to Distrust Symantec Certificates”. Google. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
  17. ^ "DigiCert Closes Acquisition of Symantec's Website SSL Security Unit". eWeek. Retrieved 2019-03-11.
  18. ^ "DigiCert works with its customers and partners to successfully move past Google's distrust of Symantec TLS certificates". PR Newswire (Press release). Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  19. ^ Kent, Jonathan (October 31, 2018). "QuoVadis to be sold to US firm DigiCert". www.royalgazette.com. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
  20. ^ Barker, Sara. “DigiCert’s QuoVadis acquisition extends PKI expertise in Europe”. SecurityBrief EMEA. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
  21. ^ “DigiCert Labs to innovate new security technologies that address emerging threats through collaboration with academic and industry research”. PR Newswire. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  22. ^ Barker, Sara. “DigiCert Labs to research postquantum cryptography and ML”. SecurityBrief EMEA. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  23. ^ "DigiCert Announces Post-Quantum Computing Tool Kit | DigiCert.com". www.digicert.com. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  24. ^ "News | TA". TA Associates. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  25. ^ "CLEARLAKE CAPITAL GROUP AND TA ASSOCIATES TO MAKE A STRATEGIC GROWTH INVESTMENT IN DIGICERT". Clearlake Capital. July 9, 2019. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  26. ^ Sawers, Paul (January 13, 2022). "DigiCert acquires Mocana to bolster IoT security". VentureBeat. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
  27. ^ Graham, Patrick (June 9, 2022). "DigiCert Acquires DNS Made Easy". Mergers & Acquisitions. Archived from the original on September 18, 2024. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
  28. ^ "Industry Partnerships | DigiCert.com". www.digicert.com. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  29. ^ "DigiCert Company Culture". www.digicert.com. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  30. ^ News, Industry (May 22, 2020). "DigiCert named 2020 Global Company of the Year in TLS certificate market by Frost & Sullivan". Help Net Security. Retrieved June 6, 2023. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  31. ^ ThePKIGuy (May 19, 2020). "The PKI Guy talks standards with Dean Coclin, chair of the ASC X9 PKI study group". PKI Solutions LLC. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  32. ^ Frazier, Ambria (December 4, 2019). "ASC X9 Revives PKI Working Group To Address New Public Key Infrastructure Needs". Accredited Standards Committee X9. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  33. ^ "DigiCert selected to provide Root CA for AeroMACS". Datacentre Solutions. March 8, 2018. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  34. ^ "Corporate Members". Anti-Phishing Working Group. Archived from the original on September 17, 2024. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  35. ^ "DigiCert Root CA First Approved for Matter Device Attestation by Connectivity Standards Alliance | DigiCert". www.digicert.com. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  36. ^ https://www.digicert.com/content/dam/digicert/pdfs/ci-plus-tv-case-study.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  37. ^ kgwynn. "Member List". DirectTrust. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  38. ^ "DigiCert and Eonti Selected by the Western Canadian NG9-1-1 Network Operator to Secure the Next Generation 9-1-1 Systems" (Press release). PR Newswire. June 22, 2022. Archived from the original on June 22, 2022.
  39. ^ DigiCert. "DigiCert Joins NIST Consortium on Effective TLS Server Certificate Management". DigiCert. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  40. ^ "NCCoE Announces Technology Collaborators for the Migration to Post-Quantum Cryptography Project" (Press release). National Institute of Standards and Technology. July 15, 2022. Archived from the original on September 27, 2024.
  41. ^ "SAE International Hires World-Class Contractor Team for EV Charging Public Key Infrastructure Cooperative Research Project" (Press release). SAE International. February 9, 2021. Archived from the original on June 6, 2023.
  42. ^ "SSL Certificate Support - Entrust, Inc". Entrust.net. Archived from the original on June 29, 2015. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
  43. ^ Revoking Trust in DigiCert Sdn. Bhd Intermediate Certificate Authority, Mozilla. "DigiCert Sdn. Bhd is a Malaysian subordinate CA under Entrust and Verizon (GTE CyberTrust). It bears no affiliation whatsoever with the US-based corporation DigiCert, Inc., which is a member of Mozilla's root program."
  44. ^ Microsoft Security Advisory (2641690) "DigiCert Sdn. Bhd is not affiliated with the corporation DigiCert, Inc., which is a member of the Microsoft Root Certificate Program."
  45. ^ Duckett, Chris (August 2, 2017). "Symantec to Get Almost $1B Plus Stock in Certificate Business Sale". ZDNet. Archived from the original on August 4, 2017.
  46. ^ Aas, Josh; Barnes, Richard; Case, Benton; Durumeric, Zakir; Eckersley, Peter; Flores-López, Alan; Halderman, J. Alex; Hoffman-Andrews, Jacob; Kasten, James; Rescorla, Eric; Schoen, Seth; Warren, Brad (November 6, 2019). "Let's Encrypt: An Automated Certificate Authority to Encrypt the Entire Web" (PDF). Proceedings of the 2019 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security. Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 2473–2487. doi:10.1145/3319535.3363192. ISBN 978-1-4503-6747-9.
  47. ^ Helme, Scott (September 11, 2019). "Extended Validation not so... extended? How I revoked $1,000,000 worth of EV certificates!". Archived from the original on September 11, 2019. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  48. ^ Helme, Scott (January 4, 2022). "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and QWACs like a duck, then it's probably an EV Certificate". Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  49. ^ "Mozilla and the EFF publish letter about the danger of Article 45.2 | The Mozilla Blog". blog.mozilla.org. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  50. ^ "Experts urge EU not to force insecure certificates in web browsers". BleepingComputer. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  51. ^ Callas, Alexis Hancock and Jon (February 9, 2022). "What the Duck? Why an EU Proposal to Require "QWACs" Will Hurt Internet Security". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
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