# MA-699.042018: MyCERT Advisory - Symantec Certificate Issue

**Date:** 16 Apr 2018  
**Source:** https://www.mycert.org.my/portal/advisory?id=MA-699.042018  
**Advisory ID:** MA-699.042018

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**1.0    Introduction**
In March 2017, Google has discovered a problem with Symantec issued SSL certificates and roughly 30,000 SSL certificates has violated industry standards defined within the CA/B forum baseline requirements. Due to this Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox has announced that they will gradually distrust all Symantec-issued certificates.
The process will be implemented in phases; and a key phase will start taking effect in April 2018. Symantec-issued certificates issued before 1 June 2016 will be distrusted in later versions of Chrome 66 and Firefox 60 onwards.  Updated versions of Chrome 66 and Firefox 60 are scheduled for release on 17 April 2018 and 9 May 2018 respectively.
**2.0    Impact**
Users visiting an affected website with a Symantec-issued certificate would encounter a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate error and will not have access to the desired website.  If not rectified, it may cause users to lose confidence in the security of these websites and affect the reputation of the affected company.
**3.0 Affected Websites**
Any website that using Symantec-owned brands like Thawte, VeriSign, Equifax, GeoTrust, and RapidSSL certificates would be deprecated by Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox browser. Meanwhile users also not able to access the contents on the affected websites when using the mentioned browsers.
**4.0 Recommendation**   
MyCERT advised affected website administrators who rely on Symantec issued certificates to obtain a new certificate from any of the trusted CAs such as Entrust, GlobalSign or GoDaddy to ensure that their websites remain accessible. Please visit <https://cabforum.org/members/> for a list of CAs.
User also can identify impacted certificates by using web tool checker created by Digicert at <https://www.websecurity.symantec.com/support/ssl-checker>. This tool can help user to identify whether their Symantec-issued certificate needs to be replaced by DigiCert or not.
Generally, MyCERT advises the users of this product to be updated with the latest security announcements by the vendor and follow best practice security policies to determine which updates should be applied.
For further enquiries, please contact MyCERT through the following channels:
E-mail: [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#9bf8e2f9fee9a2a2a2dbf8e2f9fee9e8fef8eee9f2efe2b5f6e2) or [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1f72667c7a6d6b5f72667c7a6d6b31706d78317266)
Phone: 1-300-88-2999 (monitored during business hours)
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**5.0 References**
•    <https://www.csa.gov.sg/singcert/news/advisories-alerts/advisory-on-distrust-of-symantec-issued-certificates>
•    <https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/03/google-takes-symantec-to-the-woodshed-for-mis-issuing-30000-https-certs/>
•    <https://security.googleblog.com/2018/03/distrust-of-symantec-pki-immediate.html>
•    <https://blog.mozilla.org/security/2018/03/12/distrust-symantec-tls-certificates/>
•    <https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/google-outlines-ssl-apocalypse-for-symantec-certificates/>
•    <https://cabforum.org/members/>
•    <https://www.digicert.com/blog/replace-symantec-issued-certificates-ahead-chrome-66-beta-march-15/>