Google has completed upgrade to 2048-bit SSL certificates

Google has made cracking SSL connections a lot more difficult with the upgrade to certificates with a key length of 2048 bits. The search company says it has completed the rollout earlier than planned. Internet services are recommended to move away from 1024-bit keys.

Google announced the update to 2048-bit rsa keys in May of this year and then said it wanted to complete the rollout in 2013. That has already happened, says Dan Dulay, a security engineer at Google. “The hardware security module that contained our old 1024bit certificate has done its job well. Its last achievement after all outstanding certificates were revoked was to be destroyed”, thus dulay.

With the longer key length, Google makes cracking SSL connections by brute force a lot more difficult. These connections are used, for example, to log in to internet services and to secure online transactions. Google has been using SSL for years with Gmail, among others, and as standard with its search engine from September this year. Although the 1024bit SSL encryption is still seen as relatively safe, the general advice is that it should be switched in time. “Especially given the reports of government espionage and other unwanted intrusions,” Google said.

Google’s own Internet Authority G2the certificate authority of the group, will from now on only issue 2048-bit certificates for the company’s services.