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2022-07-05 Minutes of the Network Security Working Group

Network Security Working Group – July 5, 2022

Antitrust Statement was read by Clint.

Roll Call: Aaron Poulsen (Amazon), Adam Jones (Microsoft), Ben Wilson (Mozilla), Clint Wilson (Apple), Corey Bonnell (DigiCert), David Kluge (Google), Jillian Karner (Let’s Encrypt), Paul van Brouwershaven (Entrust), Ruben Annemans (GlobalSign), Tim Crawford (CPA Canada/WebTrust), Tobias Josefowitz (Opera Software AS), Tony Seymour (Comsign)

Membership Application Processing

SSL.COM has applied to join the working group. They meet all the requirements and no objections were raised to their joining.

Fastly has applied to join the working group. They are not yet a member of another working group, which is a prerequisite, but assuming their membership application is accepted in the Server Cert Working Group, we would able to have them join here. No objections were raised to having them join as a voting member (instead of interested party), once they’ve been added as a certificate issuer to the Server Cert Working Group.

Any other business

  • David provided an update of the threat model and risk analysis for OCSP responders, identifying mitigating controls for remediation. The group should look at the results, polish, and determine to move onto the next component.

  • Ben brought up the value of the Glossary work as benefiting the NCSSRs. Clint confirmed that’s still on his plate, and will work with Sectigo (Martijn) and Ben with a draft charter.

  • Ben also brought up continuing work on the “Zones” ballot. We can set aside the definition work and instead focus on the Air-gapped CA additions.

  • Ben provided an overview of prior discussions around the redlined NCSSRs which incorporate separate requirements for Air-gapped CAs, split between logical and physical security requirements.

  • Tim provided additional context that part of the goals with the changes was to ensure the requirements were applicable to offline/air-gapped systems, so that the requirements wouldn’t do more harm than good to those systems.

  • The group reviewed section 5.1 of the redline draft update to the NCSSRs. Comments were added to the document as the discussion progressed.

  • A procedure for granting persons trusted roles was identified as likely fitting better as a general requirement.

  • Issues were raised with assuming that multiple accounts must exist in order for accountability of individual access to be auditable.

  • Discussion around what trusted roles are and what role they play in the NCSSRs, though no specific conclusion was reached.

  • Discussion to continue in the next call.

Latest releases
Server Certificate Requirements
SC098: Process RFC 8657 CAA Parameters - Jun 16, 2026

Code Signing Requirements
v3.8 - Aug 5, 2024

What’s Changed CSC-25: Import EV Guidelines to CS Baseline Requirements by @dzacharo in https://github.com/cabforum/code-signing/pull/38 Full Changelog: https://github.com/cabforum/code-signing/compare/v3.7...v3.8

S/MIME Requirements
v1.0.15 - Ballot SMC017v2 - Jul 30, 2026

This ballot increases the minimum RSA key size for Root and Subordinate CA certificates in the S/MIME BRs from 2048 to 4096 bits for keys created after September 15, 2026, while retaining the 2048-bit minimum for Subscriber certificates. The ballot further requires that by September 15, 2027, CAs SHALL NOT issue Subscriber certificates from any Sub-CA whose RSA key modulus is less than 3072 bits, effectively sunsetting issuance from legacy 2048-bit Sub-CAs. The ballot also includes minor typographic corrections. This ballot is proposed by Martijn Katerbarg (Sectigo) and endorsed by Ben Wilson (Mozilla) and Stephen Davidson (DigiCert)

Network and Certificate System Security Requirements
Version 2.0.5 (Ballot NS-008) - Jul 9, 2025

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