Internet security returned to the forefront of Web issues this week, with a couple of high-profile hackings, security breaches, and an identity theft that involved the world's biggest software maker. Among the most prominent and potentially destructive were two digital certificates . . .
Internet security returned to the forefront of Web issues this week, with a couple of high-profile hackings, security breaches, and an identity theft that involved the world's biggest software maker. Among the most prominent and potentially destructive were two digital certificates that were mistakenly issued in Microsoft's name that could be used by virus writers to fool people into running harmful programs. According to Microsoft, someone posing as a Microsoft employee tricked VeriSign, which hands out so-called digital signatures, into issuing the two certificates in the software giant's name.

Such certificates are critical for businesses and consumers who download patches, updates, and other pieces of software from the Internet, as they verify that the software is being supplied from a particular company such as Microsoft.

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