Root Causes: A PKI and Security Podcast

Tim describes how the addition of an item to the CABF face-to-face meeting agenda blew up into a panicked and outraged online thread. We discuss what a more functional response would have looked like.

We continue our discussion of CPS misalignment by discussing the reasons for revocation as a remedy, its disadvantages, and the possibility of another solution that provides the same benefits at less cost.

We examine the circumstance where otherwise allowed practices are out of alignment with the stated practices in the relevant CPS. We discuss CA transparency and accountability, increased scrutiny of the CPS, and mass revocation.

We follow up on our discussion of the Get off My Lawn (GoTM) browser with Jason's adventure in creating his own custom root store.

We discuss Jason's code vibing journey to create the Get Off My Lawn! (GoTM) browser. We discuss SSL certificate information, EV indicators, and cookie handling.

We define CPS (Certificate Practices Statement) and explain the role it plays in both the WebPKI and private CAs.

"Code vibing" is using generative AI to create or improve working code. We share Jason's adventure using code vibing to create his own web browser.

The first CA distrust event of 2025 comes with two simultaneous CA distrusts. We give you the details.

For the first time ever, Jason and I record an episode from the floor of the CA/Browser Forum face-to-face meeting. We recap the themes of this meeting, and Jason gives his first impressions of a CABF Face-to-face.

In this episode we explain the potential for future quantum computers to break files signed today with RSA or ECC, called "Trust now, forge later."

Jason describes his recent experience using Amazon Braket.

In this episode Jason explains the fallacy of "playing chicken" with the Quantum Apocalypse. We discuss stack ranking and "eyes open" PQC risk decisions.

In this brief episode we explain why the problem that Shor's Algorithm poses to RSA and ECC can't be solved simply by increasing key size.

Wow. It's episode 500 of Root Causes. Jason and Tim talk about how the podcast has evolved in the past six years, how it remains consistent, and the updates we're making to keep being a valuable resource for our listeners.

The recent Signal controversy highlights the importance of understanding what protections an E2EE messaging app provides, and what it does not.

The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has released new PQC guidance. We take exception to the dates it gives and explain why.

Guest Sofia Celi (IETF, Brave) returns to talk about important developments in post quantum cryptography. Sofia tells us about her candidate algorithm MAYO and what is happening with the NIST PQC onramp. We learn about KEM TLS and the status of PQC initiatives in IETF.

Gmail is now end-to-end encrypted for all recipients, regardless of the receiving client. We explain how Gmail accomplishes this trick.

We build on our Trust Models discussion to explore how organizations can structure their PKI for the transition to post quantum cryptography (PQC).

We explain the basics of trust models and compare various models including WebPKI, private CA, and consortium models.

Changing root store requirements mean CAs must separate their root hierarchies for different certificate types. We explain why enterprises should consider private CA for some use cases.

In this episode we get excited about errors we see in mandatory security trainings.

We are rejoined by Dr. Michele Mosca to explore the potential threat of RSA being broken even in the absence of a quantum computing attack.

We define Chrome versus Chromium, explaining what each is and the difference between the two.

Does AI kill end-to-end encryption? There is a contention that the presence of AI agents in the workstream will render your confidential information visible outside the encrypted communication channels and therefore that E2EE is pointless. We explore this argument.