The hacker linked to several breaches of SSL certificate-issuing networks this year admitted sharing stolen certificates with others in Iran and has threatened to extend future spy-style attacks to computer users in the US, Europe and Israel.
“I’ll own as more as gateways in Israel, USA, Europe, as more as ISPs and attack will run there,” the hacker said in a long, rambling statement today written in sometimes-fractured English.
Comodohacker, as he calls himself, also made new claims, saying that he stole sensitive data, including customer information from two other certificate authorities (CAs), the term for organizations of companies allowed to issue SSL (secure socket layer) certificates.
On Thursday, Comodohacker said he had penetrated the networks of StartCom, an Israeli CA, and US-based GlobalSign.
“I have ALL emails, database backups, customer data which I’ll publish all via cryptome in near future,” Comodohacker said of StartCom, then added about GlobalSign, “I have access to their entire server, got [database] backups … I even have private key of their OWN globalsign.com domain.”
The man who hacked DigiNotar
Comodohacker has previously taken credit for both the Comodo hack in March and the more recent intrusion of DigiNotar. In both cases, he was able to generate unauthorized SSL (secure socket layer) certificates.
DigiNotar, one of hundreds of firms authorised to issue digital certificates that authenticate a website’s identity, admitted on Aug. 30 that its servers were compromised weeks earlier. A report made public Monday said hackers had acquired 531 certificates, including many used by the Dutch government.
Comodohacker also provided details on the DigiNotar hack, saying that he had penetrated the Dutch company’s network even though it was protected by a hardware security module, or HSM, and supposedly safeguarded by token-management systems provided by RSA and Thale.
RSA made the news last March when it acknowledged a hack that let attackers steal information related to its SecurID token system. A later hack of Lockheed Martin, one of the U.S.’s largest military contractors, was blamed on the SecurID fiasco.
Because almost all the people affected by the DigiNotar attack were from Iran, many experts suspect that the hack was sponsored or encouraged by the Iranian government, which wanted them to spy on its citizens.
Comodohacker denied that today, but admitted he had shared the stolen Google certificate with others. “I’m the only hacker, just I have shared some certs with some people in Iran, that’s all,” he asserted.
Eddy Nigg, the chief technology officer of StartCom, one of the two companies Comodohacker singled out today, wasn’t buying it.
“I believe the hacker(s) are not directly related to Iran in any way, but simply criminals getting paid for every targeted certificate,” said Nigg in an email reply to questions. “But the attacker or attackers is most likely not Iranian nor a student nor 21-years-old. Evidence we have highly suggests that.”
How to be the man in the middle
To conduct “man-in-the-middle” attacks using fraudulent certificates, an attacker must plant malware on individual computers, compromise the domain name system (DNS) servers at one or more Internet service providers (ISP), have the assistance of ISPs or the cooperation of a government that controls the Internet within its borders, as does Iran.
Reaction to Comodohacker’s new claims was swift from GlobalSign and StartCom.
“The GlobalSign CA root was created offline, and always has been offline,” said GlobalSign in a statement. “Any claim of the Comodohacker to holding a private key does not refer to the GlobalSign offline root CA.”
On Tuesday, GlobalSign suspended certificate sales and said it had launched an investigation into Comodohacker’s claims. A day later, the New Hampshire company said it had hired Fox-IT, the forensics firm that is still digging into the DigiNotar hack for the Dutch government, to investigate.
Earlier today, GlobalSign also called the hacks “an industry-wide threat” because they have been aimed at multiple CAs.
Nigg agreed. “That appears to be the case,” he said. “We didn’t know at that time…[but now] it’s apparent.”
Nigg would not confirm or deny Comodohacker’s claims of stealing data and customer information from StartCom, but said a June attack against its network did not result in any bogus certificates being let loose.
At the time, StartCom acknowledged the attack and suspended sales of certificates. It re-opened sales a week later.
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