Netherlands Hacking Incident
Exterior view of the building housing Internet security firm DigiNotar in Beverwijk, north-western Netherlands Tuesday Sept. 6, 2001. Dutch prosecuto...
Exterior view of the building housing Internet security firm DigiNotar in Beverwijk, north-western Netherlands Tuesday Sept. 6, 2001. Dutch prosecutors say they are investigating DigiNotar for possible criminal negligence after it was slow to disclose a hacking incident that compromised dozens of websites and likely helped the Iranian government spy on dissidents for a month. DigiNotar, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Vasco Inc., did not return phone calls seeking comment. Spokesman Ernst Koeman of the Netherlands' national prosecutor's office said Tuesday the investigation is in a preliminary phase. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Netherlands Hacking Incident
Exterior view of the building housing Internet security firm DigiNotar in Beverwijk, north-western Netherlands Tuesday Sept. 6, 2001. Dutch prosecuto...
Exterior view of the building housing Internet security firm DigiNotar in Beverwijk, north-western Netherlands Tuesday Sept. 6, 2001. Dutch prosecutors say they are investigating DigiNotar for possible criminal negligence after it was slow to disclose a hacking incident that compromised dozens of websites and likely helped the Iranian government spy on dissidents for a month. DigiNotar, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Vasco Inc., did not return phone calls seeking comment. Spokesman Ernst Koeman of the Netherlands' national prosecutor's office said Tuesday the investigation is in a preliminary phase. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
A company that sells certificates guaranteeing the security of websites, GlobalSign, says it is temporarily halting the issuance of new certificates over concerns it may have been targeted by hackers.
GlobalSign, the Belgian-based subsidiary of Japan's GMO Internet Inc., is one of the oldest and largest such companies globally. It said in a statement Tuesday it does not know whether it has actually been hacked, but is taking threats by an anonymous hacker seriously in the wake of an attack on a smaller Dutch firm, DigiNotar, that came to light last week.
The DigiNotar attack is believed to have allowed the Iranian government to spy on thousands of Iranian citizens' communications with Google email during the month of August.
