The Google search engine box is shown. (Photo : Reuters)
China Internet Network Information Center, the agency responsible for issuing digital security certificates for Chinese Internet addresses, has slammed Google, Inc. for its decision to stop accepting certificates issued by the agency, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Security certificates are used to verify the legitimacy of a website, and were created to protect Internet users from phishing, identity theft and other Internet scams.
As a result of Google's decision, users of Chrome browsers trying to access new sites authenticated by the Chinese agency, known as CNNIC, will get a warning notice indicating that the site could be unsecure, and they should not open the page.
The ban follows Google's discovery two weeks ago that Egyptian company MCS Holdings, an intermediate certificate authority hired by CNNIC, issued unauthorized digital certificates to several Google domains, VentureBeat reported.
The ban will "take effect in a future Chrome update. To assist customers affected by this decision, for a limited time we will allow CNNIC's existing certificates to continue to be marked as trusted in Chrome, through the use of a publicly disclosed whitelist," Google said in its blog post on Wednesday.
CNNIC said that Google's move is "difficult to understand and accept" and asked the firm to take the rights of users into consideration. The Chinese agency also assured existing users that their "lawful rights and interests will not be affected."
Google said that CNNIC could reapply for trusted status once it has improved its verification process, BBC reported.
Following Google's move, Mozilla released a statement on Thursday, saying it will update its code "so that Mozilla products will no longer trust any certificate issued by CNNIC's roots with a notBefore date on or after 1st April 2015," VentureBeat reported.
Mozilla also urged CNNIC to apply again for full inclusion after meeting certain requirements.
