Google to lengthen SSL encryption keys from August

May 24, 2013

Google plans to upgrade the security of its SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates, an important component of secure communications.SSL certificates are used to encrypt communication and verify the integrity of another party with which a user is interacting. Its strength lies in the length of the private signing keys used for the certificates.Keys that are less than 1,024 bits are considered weak, and 512- and 768-bit keys have been factored to reveal a private key. Google has been using 1,024-bit keys, but will move to 2,048-bit keys, wrote Stephen McHenry, Google's director of information security engineering, in a blog post Thursday."We will begin switching to the new 2048-bit certificates on August 1st, to ensure adequate time for a careful rollout before the end of the year," he wrote. "We're also going to change the root certificate that signs all of our SSL certificates because it has a 1024-bit key."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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