RE: Fake Security Certificate

["Dennis E. Hamilton" <dennis.hamilton () acm org>]

This will depend on your local law.  In the United States, for example, employer-provided e-mail is under the control 
of the employer.  Although there has been movement to have employers disclose exactly what the privacy and security 
arrangements are, I do not know how well that is practiced in any legal jurisdiction.

My best advice is (1) do not use that password for anything else, and (2) don't use the office email for personal and 
especially private matters.

Next, find a polite way to determine whether the redirection is a matter of business policy and is known to the 
management.  That is, the system administrator has the authority to do this and the practice is known.  I would be 
careful and not assume automatically that this is unauthorized.  But it does have security implications for the 
company.  

A place to start might be to raise your concern about the certificate discrepancy at the redirected site.  It is not 
necessarily "fake," just not done properly.  Browser messages tend to be over-reaching, but the warning of a possible 
hazard should be of concern.


 -- Dennis E. Hamilton
    dennis.hamilton () acm org    +1-206-779-9430
    https://keybase.io/orcmid  PGP F96E 89FF D456 628A



-----Original Message-----
From: listbounce () securityfocus com [mailto:listbounce () securityfocus com] On Behalf Of Muhammad Saqib
Sent: Thursday, July 3, 2014 23:15
To: security-basics () securityfocus com
Subject: Fake Security Certificate

Hello All

I am in a little bit of fix relating to security of my office email
and thought to seek advice of community here.

I work in a small company and our office email is hosted on Google. A
few days ago, I tried to change the password of my email and instead
of opening the usual Google page for password change, it redirected me
to passwordchange.mycompanydomain.com and my browser told me that the
security certificate of this webpage cannot be trusted. nslookup
passwordchange.mycompanydomain.com revealed that this webpage is
indeed hosted by the server managed by our system administrator.
Obviously, the password change link in the Google mail has been
redirected to this webpage by our system administrator who is also
responsible for managing and hosting of office email on Google and has
the rights to edit such information.

I would like to ask:

1. Is this something which I should ignore and continue with my email
as earlier?

2. One possible reason for system administrator to do this could be
enabling single sign on service for the users i.e. same password for
email and the domain log on on office computers. By collecting the
password from the email, the system admin can save the same password
for domain log on. However, is this excuse good enough to allow for
such practice?

3. Even if it is being used for single sign on, isn't there any way
that an application using a trusted certificate can be used for this
purpose?

I would greatly appreciate your expert opinion on this.


Regards

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Securing Apache Web Server with thawte Digital Certificate
In this guide we examine the importance of Apache-SSL and who needs an SSL certificate.  We look at how SSL works, how 
it benefits your company and how your customers can tell if a site is secure. You will find out how to test, purchase, 
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highlighted to help you ensure efficient ongoing management of your encryption keys and digital certificates.

http://www.dinclinx.com/Redirect.aspx?36;4175;25;1371;0;5;946;e13b6be442f727d1
------------------------------------------------------------------------


------------------------------------------------------------------------
Securing Apache Web Server with thawte Digital Certificate
In this guide we examine the importance of Apache-SSL and who needs an SSL certificate.  We look at how SSL works, how 
it benefits your company and how your customers can tell if a site is secure. You will find out how to test, purchase, 
install and use a thawte Digital Certificate on your Apache web server. Throughout, best practices for set-up are 
highlighted to help you ensure efficient ongoing management of your encryption keys and digital certificates.

http://www.dinclinx.com/Redirect.aspx?36;4175;25;1371;0;5;946;e13b6be442f727d1
------------------------------------------------------------------------