Don wrote:
I haven't read the SSL spec for a while but my understanding was that the server passed it's public key to the client via a certificate signed by a mutually trusted certificate authority (i.e., Verisign).
How would the filter be able to forge such a certificate ?
Why forge it? Why not simply buy a netsite server with a valid certificate. Let's say you paid full list for it $5000. It is the classic MITM attack but the protection against that attack was generally that the parties communicating "knew" each other. This is a fundamental weakness of putting the security at the SSL level as opposed to a possibly higher level. With the netscape attack since your client never cares "how" (or to whom) the SSL connection is made, it never shows you the information about where the source key came from. Only that it is valid. --Chuck