Mozilla mulls early cutoff for SHA-1 digital certificates
In light of recent advances in attacks against the SHA-1 cryptographic function, Mozilla is considering banning digital certificates signed with the algorithm sooner than expected.
The CA/Browser Forum, a group of certificate authorities and browser makers that sets guidelines for the issuance and use of digital certificates, had previously decided that new SHA-1-signed certificates should not be issued after Jan. 1, 2016.
Browser makers have also decided that existing SHA-1 certificates will no longer be trusted in their software starting Jan. 1, 2017, even if they're technically set to expire after that date.
On Tuesday, Mozilla announced that it's re-evaluating the cutoff date and is considering the feasibility of pushing it forward by six months, on July 1, 2016. The decision is guided by recent research that improves the practicality of attacks against SHA-1.
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