The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) recently formed a special team to investigate the leak of private keys associated with web security certificates issued by Bengaluru-based eMudhra.
About eMudhra Limited:
It is an Indian digital trust company that provides digital certificates and services for verifying identities and securing online transactions.
It operates as a certificate authority (CA), an organisation that issues digital certificates to help websites and other entities prove their identity online.
A digital certificate works much like an identity card for a website.
When someone visits a banking website, for example, the browser checks its certificate to help establish that it is connecting to the genuine website rather than an impostor.
CA’s issue these certificates, which browsers use to determine whether a website's identity can be trusted.
eMudhra also provides digital signature certificates and electronic signing services that allow people and businesses to sign documents online.
The company is listed by the Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA), the government body responsible for licensing and regulating certifying authorities in India.
eMudhra is also associated with Aadhaar-linked electronic know-your-customer (e-KYC) services, according to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
eMudhra is not the only company authorised to issue digital certificates in India.
The CCA's list includes other providers such as Protean, C-DAC, Capricorn and VSign
Their services vary, but they operate within India's regulated digital-signature ecosystem.
Why Do Websites Need Security Certificates?
When someone visits a website, the browser needs to check that it is connecting to the genuine website and that information exchanged with it is protected from being read or altered by others.
This is where HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) comes in.
It helps secure the connection between a website and a browser using a system called Transport Layer Security (TLS).
As part of this process, the website presents a digital certificate that helps the browser verify its identity.
The digital certificate links the website's name to a public key, while the website keeps a matching private key secret.
The browser checks the certificate to see whether it was issued by an authority it trusts and whether it is valid.
If these checks succeed, the browser can establish an encrypted connection.
This helps protect information such as passwords, payment details and private messages as they travel across the internet.
However, a secure connection does not guarantee that a website is legitimate or that its content is safe.
It helps confirm the website's identity and protects information exchanged with it, but a fraudulent website can also have a valid security certificate.
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