What is a subversion of online certificate validation?

What is a subversion of online certificate validation?

Subversion of online certificate validation refers to an attacker manipulating the certificate validation process to authenticate a fraudulent certificate successfully. Below are the popular attempts.

Man-in-the-middle attack: An attacker intercepts and alters the communication between a user and a certificate authority (CA) to present a fraudulent certificate to the user.

Phishing: An attacker tricks a user into visiting a fake website that presents a fraudulent certificate and then uses the user's trust in the certificate to steal sensitive information.

DNS spoofing: An attacker alters the Domain Name System (DNS) records to redirect users to a fake website that presents a fraudulent certificate.

Rogue CA: An attacker creates a fake CA and issues fraudulent certificates that users and systems recognize as valid.

Organizations must use robust certificate validation techniques, such as certificate pinning, and keep the list of trusted CAs up to date. Users must educate themselves on the risks of phishing and other types of attacks.

Keeping the software and browser updated can protect them against vulnerabilities causing subversion of certificates.

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