Global InformationStartCom information
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2010) |
| Company type | Private company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Internet security, Public key infrastructure |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Founder | Eddy Nigg[1] |
| Defunct | January 1, 2018 |
| Headquarters | Beijing , China |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Iñigo Barreira (CEO), Tan Xiaosheng (Chairman), Yang Qing |
| Owner | Qihoo 360 Group |
| Parent | StartCom CA Ltd. (UK), StartCom CA Ltd. (HK) |
StartCom was a certificate authority founded in Eilat, Israel, and later based in Beijing, China, that had three main activities: StartCom Enterprise Linux (Linux distribution), StartSSL (certificate authority) and MediaHost (web hosting). StartCom set up branch offices in China, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and Spain.[2] Due to multiple faults on the company's end, all StartCom certificates were removed from Mozilla Firefox in October 2016[3] and Google Chrome in March 2017, including certificates previously issued, with similar removals from other browsers expected to follow.[4]
StartCom was acquired in secrecy[5] by WoSign Limited (Shenzhen, Guangdong, China), through multiple companies,[a] which was revealed by the Mozilla investigation[5] related to the root certificate removal of WoSign and StartCom in 2016. Due to the sanctions of both Mozilla and Apple,[6][7] the company announced it would be restructured during 2016 by WoSign parent Qihoo 360 Group, detaching StartCom from the scandal-affected WoSign and making it a subsidiary of Qihoo.[b][8]
Despite attempts to distance itself from the controversy, on November 16, 2017, StartCom announced termination of business, and on January 1, 2018, stopped serving new certificates, effectively closing the company.[9][10] The StartSSL, StartCom, and StartCom CA websites now redirect to WoSign's shop page.
- ^ Chirgwin, Richard (10 Oct 2016). "Heads roll as Qihoo 360 moves to end WoSign, StartCom certificate row". The Register. Retrieved 2016-12-10.
- ^ "About StartCom". The Register. Apr 26, 2016. Archived from the original on June 25, 2016. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
- ^ "Distrusting New WoSign and StartCom Certificates".
- ^ Adam C. Engst. "Why Take Control Was Briefly Labeled "Not Secure"". Take Control.
- ^ a b Mozilla (2016-10-10). "WoSign and StartCom". Retrieved 2016-10-25.
- ^ apple (2016-09-30). "Blocking Trust for WoSign CA Free SSL Certificate G2 (IOS)".
- ^ apple (2016-09-30). "Blocking Trust for WoSign CA Free SSL Certificate G2 (MacOS)".
- ^ Qihoo 360 Group (2016-10-14). "StartCom Remediation Plan" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-10-26. Retrieved 2016-10-25.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "StartSSL™ Certificates & Public Key Infrastructure". www.startcomca.com. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2017-11-17.
- ^ 谭晓生 (17 November 2017). "Termination of the certificates business of Startcom". mozilla.dev.security.policy (Mailing list).
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