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Google Starts Upgrading Its SSL Certificates To 2048-bit Keys

Posted by Soulskill on from the go-big-or-go-home dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Google today announced it has already started upgrading all of its SSL certificates to 2048-bit keys. The goal is to beef up the encryption on the connections made to its services. Google says the upgrade, which includes the root certificate that the company uses to sign all of its SSL certificates, will be completed 'in the next few months.' Previously, however, Google was more specific and said it was aiming to finish the process by the end of 2013."

7 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. Older PCs by MightyMait · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I wonder how this'll affect older PCs? Aren't SSL communications with larger keys more processor-intensive than when using a smaller key?

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    Nothing interesting to say...MUST...NOT...REPLY...ohtheheckwithit.
  2. Key size not the flaw... by sabt-pestnu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The largest risk isn't during transmission, it is at the user's end... and Google's end. 2 million bit encryption wouldn't be enough if you had a keylogger, or if google got served a National Security Letter that it decided to honor.

  3. WTF? by bloodhawk · · Score: 1, Insightful

    How the fuck is "by the end of 2013" more specific than "in the next few months"? First is a 5 month range, the second "generally" refers to a 2-4 month range. At worst there timeline response hasn't changed.

    1. Re:WTF? by hawguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How the fuck is "by the end of 2013" more specific than "in the next few months"? First is a 5 month range, the second "generally" refers to a 2-4 month range. At worst there timeline response hasn't changed.

      "By the end of 2013" specifies an exact point in time at which the project will be done - Dec 31st, 2013, if they slip past that date, then they are late. However, "in the next few months" is very non specific, with no universally accepted definition of what it means and can depend on the range being considered -- If I have big bag of M&M's and someone asks me for a "few", they'd probably be disappointed if I gave them 2 - 4. Since "few" is so non-specific, they could stretch it out to 5 months and still claim they are within a "few".

  4. Big deal. by magic+maverick+ · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've been using 4096 bit keys for over two years. Now if only /. would get into the act (I don't want freaks and weirdos at where ever I use the 'net to know a. what stories I read. b. whether I'm logged in or not. c. if I'm logged in, what my user name and password are).

    Also, the moderators are all insufficiently like the "ideal" for their gender (whatever gender that is). E.g. the male identifying mods all have small penis'.

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    HELP MY ACCOUNT HAS BEEN HACKED BY AN ILLIBERAL ART STUDENT SET TO DESTROY THE INTERWEBZ!
  5. Re:and passing them to the NSA by bobbied · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Not really. There are good reasons to encrypt, you just have to understand them.

    The main thing you need to realize is that encrypting something only delays the disclosure of the data. It may take a LONG time to try all the available keys, but eventually a brute force attack will be successful. Of course, if it's going to average 100 years of effort, it may not be worth it to the attacker, or it may not matter what you bank account balance was by then.

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    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  6. Re:Completely useless... by noh8rz10 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I love how this is an article about how goog is increasing security, yet 95% of the posts are about NSA snooping. This is the flip side of the PRISM stuff - a company will never be able to prove that NSA is NOT snooping. Once the public loses faith, it will be really hard for a company to regain it. maybe this has already happened...