eMudhra exits global SSL/TLS certificate business after issuing eight dangerously weak intermediate credentials

India-based eMudhra said it will withdraw from the global SSL/TLS certificate business after issuing eight intermediate TLS credentials so weak that anyone could create certificates for websites or mail servers; one had a private key of just 4. Chairman V. Srinivasan cited rising compliance costs, free certificate competition, and the business contributing only 1% of revenue, while saying social media scrutiny was disproportionate to SSL/TLS’s role in the company.

For teams choosing certificate authorities, the reported weakness of eMudhra’s intermediates is a reminder that CA selection affects more than price: a CA failure can create broad trust and remediation risk. The trade-off is that low-cost or free TLS options may reduce spend, but buyers still need evidence of compliance discipline; the article does not say how existing eMudhra customers or issued certificates will be transitioned.