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German Health Insurance Card CA Loses Secret Key
Christiane writes "The SSL Root CA responsible for issuing the German digital health insurance card lost its secret private key during a test enrollment. After their Hardware Security Module (HSM) dutifully deleted its crypto keys during a power outage, it was all 'Oops, why is there no backup?' All issued cards must be replaced: 'Gematik spokesman Daniel Poeschkens poured scorn on the statement that Gematik had insisted on the service provider carrying out a test without backing up the root CA private keys. "We did not decide against a back-up service. The fact of the matter is that the service provider took over the running of the test system, so it also has to warrant its continuous operation. How it fulfills this obligation is its own responsibility."'"
I'd rather the key be lost, than stolen, hacked, made-public, etc. At least it didn't breach security in the typical manner.
I'm confused, isn't this sort of problem exactly why you carry out system tests?
Sending out new cards to card testers during a systems test is hardly extraordinary.
Even so, this line struck me as all too familiar: "The fact of the matter is that the service provider took over the running of the test system, so it also has to warrant its continuous operation. How it fulfills this obligation is its own responsibility."
This is why managers (especially the MBA types) love outsourcing of everything. It is also in part because numbers and KPIs are so much more easy to manage than actual people. But mainly, by outsourcing a function you also get to outsource the responsibility for that particular function. If things go tits up, the worst you'll be blamed for is picking the wrong service provider, or perhaps not monitoring a particular KPI properly. Minor stuff.
I've seen plenty of managers like that, and I have heard a variation of that one line all too often.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...