ComodoHacker also refers to an attack on US certificate authority Comodo, which was targeted in March.

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Encourage and develop better authentication systems, including PKI (public key infrastructure) and CA (certificate authority) schemes.

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But that doesn't reflect the cost of internally managing and staffing a certificate authority, which usually is the most expensive component in a PKI.

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But herein lies the heart of the problem, because the entire web security architecture rests upon the integrity of the embedded SSL certificate authority (CA) system.

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The main component of a PKI is a certificate authority, which issues the certificate, keeps a repository of valid certificates and manages a protocol for registering, revoking or verifying them.

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Census also will team with a certificate authority to authenticate the Census Web site so that citizens know they are connected to the legitimate Census site and not another site designed to mimic it, he said.

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The approved inspector, a private company called JHA Innovation (JHAI) Ltd, issued the certificate, but without consulting the fire authority, which it was legally obliged to do.

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