Root Causes: A PKI and Security Podcast - podcast cover

Root Causes: A PKI and Security Podcast

Tim Callan and Jason Sorokosoundcloud.com
Digital certificate industry veterans Tim Callan and Jason Soroko explore the issues surrounding digital identity, PKI, and cryptographic connections in today's dynamic and evolving computing world. Best practices in digital certificates are continually under pressure from technology trends, new laws and regulations, cryptographic advances, and the evolution of our computing architectures to be more virtual, agile, ubiquitous, and cloud-based. Jason and Tim (and the occasional guest subject matter expert) will help you stay current on developments in this essential technology platform and to understand the whys and wherefores of popular Public Key Infrastructures.
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Episodes

Root Causes 358: Security Questionnaire Sins

In this episode we present a catalog of "security questionnaire sins," which are avoidable problems and errors that frequently occur in the security questionnaires enterprises send to vendors. Categories include difficulty of access, poor technical implementation, poor policies, and poor questions.

Jan 30, 202433 min

Root Causes 356: Will MPDV Eliminate Email-based DCV?

Multi-perspective Domain Validation (MPDV) is a necessary evolution of Domain Control Validation (DCV) to protect against Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) attacks. We explore how MPDV may affect accepted DCV methods, especially the email method.

Jan 22, 202416 min

Root Causes 353: Why Isn't PKI Everywhere?

Our hosts firmly believe that PKI is a necessary component of all digital interactions. And yet there are still gaps in PKI implementation. We discuss these gaps and why they persist.

Jan 09, 202424 min

Root Causes 351: 2024 Predictions

We look forward to 2024 and predict trends for PKI, certificates, and digital identity. We discuss shortening certificate lifespans, Multi-perspective Domain Validation (MPDV), eIDAS 2.0, OCSP, post-quantum cryptography (PQC), Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM), passwords, root stores, and government versus encryption. Plus, will Jason be sent to the gulag for not being Canadian enough?

Dec 27, 202318 min

Root Causes 349: 2023 Lookback - Overall Trends

We look back at PKI in 2023. Trends include artificial intelligence, enterprise crypto agility, the fall of OCSP, PKI everywhere, the weakness of passwords, and government versus the internet. We also look at last year's predictions and compare them to the year's events.

Dec 18, 202323 min

Root Causes 348: What Is a Merkle Tree?

One foundational element of modern cryptographic systems is the Merkle tree. Merkle tree is an enabler of blockchain and CT logs, among other things. We explain this data structure, its properties, and its use cases.

Dec 15, 202312 min

Root Causes 344: Introducing the PQC Onramp

NIST's Round 3 competition has yielded winners for standardization. But NIST wants to continue finding additional potential algorithms, especially those using non-Lattice schemes. We explain the PQC "onramp" and what we should expect.

Nov 29, 202317 min

Root Causes 343: The EIDAS 2.0 Controversy

ETSI is preparing to release specifications for eIDAS 2.0. One controversial aspect of this new standard is that it limits browsers' ability to determine their own trusted roots. In this episode we explain this limitation and the concerns surrounding it.

Nov 22, 202326 min

Root Causes 342: Don't Change Your Password for Two Years

The CA/Browser Forum rules stipulate how often forced password changes for CA employees are to occur. They don't, however, specify a frequency at which these forced changes must occur. Rather, they set the MINIMUM time before forced password changes can happen. Join us to learn why.

Nov 17, 202311 min

Root Causes 341: The Trouble with Security Questionnaires

The practice of sending security questionnaires to technology vendors is exploding, and with it dysfunctional behavior is on the rise. In this episode we describe how security questionnaires are changing and the pitfalls associated with this emerging practice.

Nov 13, 202319 min

Root Causes 340: Is This Podcast Canadian Enough?

Canada's Online Streaming Act will require internet content providers to provide a minimum percentage of content produced by Canadians or face fines. We explore this latest episode in the theme of governments attempting to control the free flow of information on the internet.

Nov 06, 202314 min

Root Causes 339: The ROI of CLM

In this episode we describe at a high level how to calculate the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of CLM as opposed to manual installation and management of certificates.

Oct 31, 202311 min

Root Causes 337: CLM and the IT Skills Gap

For decades industry has had more need for skilled IT employees than the workforce could provide. In this episode we discuss how Certificate Lifecycle Management and certificate automation can help mitigate the challenges posed by the IT skills gap.

Oct 10, 202321 min

Root Causes 336: Digitally Signing Images on Cameras

A recent press release discusses efforts of camera manufacturers and the digital imagery supply chain to create an ecosystem for digitally signed images. We describe what such an ecosystem would do, where it could do in the future, and the advantages and limitations of these schemes.

Oct 03, 202314 min

Root Causes 335: When MFA Is Not MFA

In this episode we describe a social engineering attack to steal a one-time password (OTP) to enable unauthorized access. This incident further exploited a cloud backup feature to extend the scope of the breach. We explain.

Sep 29, 202310 min

Root Causes 334: What Is Attestation on the Web?

Most people hate dealing with CAPTCHA, but it offers great benefits for web site operators. In this episode we discuss alternatives to CAPTCHA, how they work, and their pros and cons. Plus, the Get-Off-My-Lawn! browser returns.

Sep 26, 202318 min

Root Causes 332: Acoustic AI-based Key Logging Attack

Researchers have built an AI model that can interpret keystrokes based on the sound of keyboard use over a phone or video call. Among other things, this technique can be used to steal passwords when the sound of logging in can be overheard. Join us as we learn about this new breed of credential harvesting.

Sep 14, 202311 min

Root Causes 331: Microsoft Restores Trust to VeriSign Code Signing Root

Recent erroneous behavior for certain applications on Windows has drawn attention to the Microsoft trusted root store. It turns out that Microsoft removed - and then re-added - a legacy VeriSign root in its trusted roots list. We give you the details of what went on and why.

Sep 13, 202314 min
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