Categories: Infosec- Resources

Finally, Symantec sells of Digital Certificate(SSL) Business to DigiCert Inc

Today Symantec announced that they are to sell Digital certificate(SSL) business to DigiCert Inc for $950 million plus.Problems started from 2015 where Google had issues in Symantec certificate issuance process.

Security engineers from Google and Firefox engineers discovered that Symantec misissued around 127 SSL certificates, as the investigation progress this underlying estimation developed to an outstanding figure of more than 30,000 certificates.

Also Read Google Announces Final Decision in Distrusting Symantec SSL Certificates

With the recent update from Chrome 70 (expected late October 2018). All Symantec certificates issued from their present roots will not be trusted on this date if legitimate re-issuance move was not made.

To avoid this Symantec need to rebuild a new PKI infrastructure and certificates need to be issued with it, which is not a simple process.

So Finally Symantec has now announced the sale of its PKI business, for “US$950 million in upfront cash proceeds and approximately a 30 percent stake in the common stock equity of the DigiCert business at the closing of the transaction.”

Transitioning our Website Security and related PKI solutions to DigiCert allows us to sharpen our enterprise focus on delivering unparalleled protection for the cloud generation through Symantec’s Integrated Cyber Defense Platform. says Symantec CEO Greg Clark.

We carefully examined our options to ensure our customers would have a world-class experience with a company that offers a modern website PKI platform and is poised to lead the next generation of website security innovation. I’m thrilled that our customers will benefit from a seamless transition to DigiCert Clark added.

Also Read Fast and Complete SSL Scanner to Find Mis-configurations affecting TLS/SSL Severs-A Detailed Analysis

Digicert

DigiCert one of the leading certificate provider and having 2.2% of SSL certificate as per W3Techs.

We look forward to building a great security company and supporting all of Symantec’s and DigiCert’s customers well into the future. We have assembled the best team in the industry to help us deliver even better security solutions and service to our customers,” said DigiCert CEO John Merrill.

When compared to Symantec, DigiCert is a smaller Certification Authority. Now DigiCert needs to ensure a smooth Transition and to lift the penalty imposed by Google.

Gurubaran

Gurubaran is a co-founder of Cyber Security News and GBHackers On Security. He has 10+ years of experience as a Security Consultant, Editor, and Analyst in cybersecurity, technology, and communications.