Google, Apple and Mozilla block Kazakhstan government ‘eavesdropping certificate’

Google, Mozilla and Apple are blocking the SSL certificate that the government of Kazakhstan has used to intercept https traffic from citizens. Google says it found it an unacceptable attempt to intercept Chrome users’ data.

The three browser makers jointly announced on Wednesday to block the SSL certificate in their browsers. As a result, the certificate no longer works in Chrome, Firefox and Safari, without people having to do anything; an update is not necessary to block the certificate, because that check is done on the server side.

The government of Kazakhstan last month obliged providers to let citizens install the SSL certificate, Qaznet Trust Network, in order to access the internet. The government monitored traffic to Facebook, Twitter and Google, among others. Providers gave customers instructions on how to install it. The country’s government said it has already stopped surveillance via the SSL certificate, but the browser builders have also decided to block it. Google says in a statement that it does not take such a measure lightly, but that the company finds it unacceptable that the data of Chrome users fell into the hands of a government in this way.