StartCom

StartCom Ltd.
Company typePrivate company
IndustryInternet security, Public key infrastructure
Founded1999; 25 years ago (1999)
FounderEddy Nigg[1]
DefunctJanuary 1, 2018 (2018-01-01)
Headquarters
Beijing
,
China
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Iñigo Barreira (CEO), Tan Xiaosheng (Chairman), Yang Qing
OwnerQihoo 360 Group
ParentStartCom CA Ltd. (UK), StartCom CA Ltd. (HK)

StartCom was a certificate authority founded in Eilat, Israel, and later based in Beijing, China, that had three main activities: StartCom Enterprise Linux (Linux distribution), StartSSL (certificate authority) and MediaHost (web hosting). StartCom set up branch offices in China, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and Spain.[2] Due to multiple faults on the company's end, all StartCom certificates were removed from Mozilla Firefox in October 2016[3] and Google Chrome in March 2017, including certificates previously issued, with similar removals from other browsers expected to follow.[4]

StartCom was acquired in secrecy[5] by WoSign Limited (Shenzhen, Guangdong, China), through multiple companies,[a] which was revealed by the Mozilla investigation[5] related to the root certificate removal of WoSign and StartCom in 2016. Due to the sanctions of both Mozilla and Apple,[6][7] the company announced it would be restructured during 2016 by WoSign parent Qihoo 360 Group, detaching StartCom from the scandal-affected WoSign and making it a subsidiary of Qihoo.[b][8]

Despite attempts to distance itself from the controversy, on November 16, 2017, StartCom announced termination of business, and on January 1, 2018, stopped serving new certificates, effectively closing the company.[9][10] The StartSSL, StartCom, and StartCom CA websites now redirect to WoSign's shop page.

  1. ^ Chirgwin, Richard (10 Oct 2016). "Heads roll as Qihoo 360 moves to end WoSign, StartCom certificate row". The Register. Retrieved 2016-12-10.
  2. ^ "About StartCom". The Register. Apr 26, 2016. Archived from the original on June 25, 2016. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
  3. ^ "Distrusting New WoSign and StartCom Certificates".
  4. ^ Adam C. Engst. "Why Take Control Was Briefly Labeled "Not Secure"". Take Control.
  5. ^ a b Mozilla (2016-10-10). "WoSign and StartCom". Retrieved 2016-10-25.
  6. ^ apple (2016-09-30). "Blocking Trust for WoSign CA Free SSL Certificate G2 (IOS)".
  7. ^ apple (2016-09-30). "Blocking Trust for WoSign CA Free SSL Certificate G2 (MacOS)".
  8. ^ Qihoo 360 Group (2016-10-14). "StartCom Remediation Plan" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-10-26. Retrieved 2016-10-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ "StartSSL™ Certificates & Public Key Infrastructure". www.startcomca.com. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2017-11-17.
  10. ^ 谭晓生 (17 November 2017). "Termination of the certificates business of Startcom". mozilla.dev.security.policy (Mailing list).


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