Korea’s First RootCA Certificate Installed in Major Global OS and Browsers from NAVER Cloud
Korea’s First RootCA Certificate Installed in Major Global OS and Browsers from NAVER Cloud
Korea’s First RootCA Certificate Installed in Major Global OS and Browsers from NAVER Cloud
- “Secured certificate sovereignty” as the only Korean SSL/TLS certificate authority installed in major global OS·browsers
- Plans to launch a free NCP-only DV certificate to support building an encrypted communication environment for customers
2022-11-21
NAVER Cloud (CEO Park Won-ki, Kim Yoo-won) announced the company’s Root Certificate Authority (hereinafter RootCA) is now installed in major global operating systems (OS) and browsers for the first time in Korea.
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)/TLS (Transport Layer Security) is a network communication protocol based on encryption. The encrypted communication between web browsers and servers ensures that data is transmitted in a safer online environment using a trusted SSL/TLS (root) certificate. If there is a padlock icon and “https” in front of the site address displayed on the web browser’s address bar, it means the site is secured with an SSL/TLS.
For the first time in Korea in 2017, NAVER Cloud configured RootCA to issue root certificates. Since then, for the past five years, the company has completed installing RootCA in major global OS and browsers, including Apple in October this year. As a result, globally used OS and browsers such as Microsoft OS, Mozilla’s Firefox, Google’s Android OS and Chrome, NAVER’s Whale browser, Apple’s iOS, macOS, iPadOS, WatchOS, and tvOS are all installed with NAVER Cloud’s RootCA.
In order for a subscriber certificate to function well, a topmost certificate should be installed in major OS and browsers, but there is a difference in reliability and versatility depending on the OS and browsers installed with it. Furthermore, the Korean TLS/SSL certificate market has been completely relying on overseas certificates. However, NAVER Cloud has now secured certificate sovereignty as the company’s RootCA is installed in major OS and browsers around the world for the first time as a domestic certificate.
NAVER Cloud has been making various efforts to secure certificate sovereignty. A case in point is renewing WebTrust Assurance every year to adhere to the standard of the structure based on global web PKI (Public Key Infrastructure). The company is also an active member of the CA Browser Forum, a consortium that establishes the industry standard guideline for browser technology, meeting the criterion of the forum.
Within 2023, NAVER Cloud plans to release a cloud-only domain validation (DV) certificate, which customers can use for free. Free certificates will only be provided to services that customers created within a NAVER Cloud platform (NCP). Customers can get issued with an SSL/TLS certificate in an easy and convenient way, establishing an encrypted communication environment.
In addition, NAVER Cloud will unify the SSL certificate issuance channels for cloud customers and internal domains of NAVER affiliates in order to strengthen the interoperability and quality of NCP services. It is aiming to provide more efficient and stable cloud services by minimizing potential service errors arising from the usage of external certificates through the deployment and automatic renewal of the company’s certificate.
Choi Won-hyuk, the executive director of security and chief privacy officer (CPO) of NAVER Cloud, said, “We feel great to see the efforts of 5 years come to fruition. We worked hard to provide our own SSL service to customers and affiliates, and finally, we have become independent from external SSL CA. As the third CSP with its own SSL certificate after Amazon Web services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP), NAVER Cloud will present enhanced service capability and continuously endeavor to protect certificate sovereignty.
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