This policy is structured according to RFC 3647 chapter 4.
Version 0.10 2005/07/08
This document describes the set of rules and procedures used by CAcert, the community Certification Authority (CA).
CAcert does not issue certificates to external intermediate CA's under the present policy.
Entitled "CAcert Assurer" or "Trusted third Parties" report the identification of users to CAcert. In addition, CAcert accepts CAs which are not operated by CAcert as RAs, by acknowledging a certificate with a certain amount of trust depending on the CPS of the other CA. CAcert retains the right to introduce further methods of identification, but ensures, that either a single identification is made reliable enough or multiple less reliable identifications have to be combined in a way defined by CAcert, satisfying CAcert minimum standards in all cases.
CAcert issues certificate to unassured users, who fulfil the requirements for proper identification as defined in this document.
CAcert issues certificates for individuals, businesses, governments, charities, associations, churches, schools, non-governmental organizations or other legitimate groups.
Everyone who uses certificates issued by CAcert either directly or indirectly can be a relying party.
Software vendors who integrate the certificate of CAcert into its software are also relying parties with a special role in the "Internet PKI". Please consult the licenses/policies/... of the root key distribution service you are using, before relying on a certificate.
The CPS applies to all CAcert PKI Participants, including CAcert, Assurers, Customers, Resellers, Subscribers and Relying Parties.
CAcert operates 2 root certificates, one for assured users and one for unassured users. The root certificate for assured users is signed by the root certificate for unassured users (it is a sub-certificate). Relying parties can decide to trust only the assured certificates (by selecting the root for assured users as trust anchor), or all certificates (by selecting the root for unassured users as trust anchor).
Each of the root certificates signs all of the different types of certificatese/p>
Each type of Certificate is generally appropriate for use with the corresponding applications defined in 1.4.1, unless prohibited in 1.4.2. Additionally, by contract or within a specific environment (e.g. company-internally), CAcert users are permitted to use Certificates for higher security applications. Any such usage, however, is limited to such entities and these entities shall be responsible for any harm or liability caused by such usage.
CAcert certificates are not designed, intended, or authorized for use or resale as control equipment in hazardous circumstances or for uses requiring fail-safe performance such as the operation of nuclear facilities, aircraft navigation or communication systems, air traffic control systems, or weapons control systems, where failure could lead directly to death, personal injury, or severe environmental damage.
Also, anonymous client certificates from CAcert unassured users shall not be used as proof of identity or as support of non-repudiation of identity or authority.
CAcert certificates should not be used directly for digital signature applications. CAcert is working on the issue, to support the digital signature application in the future. Alternatively, CAcert users can use external digital signature services, which use the CAcert certificate only for realtime-authentication.
Changes are approved by a majority vote of the board members.
If a rule has been made stricter than before, the status of affected people is not automatically degraded and their certificates are not invalidated, unless there is a reason to do so.
If a rule has been relaxed, the status of affected people is not automatically upgraded unless they apply for this change.
Paragraphs marked "(* imp)" are implementation details as of the time when this policy was written or updated. They are provided just for information and shall not be legally binding.
Change of such an implementation section or correction of spelling, grammar or html errors are not considered policy changes, but rather policy updates. CAcert retains the right to do them beyond the procedures defined in chapter 2.7.
A certificate is a piece of data used for cryptographic purposes, especially digital signature and encryption in association with appropriate software, which has to be provided by the user.
CAcert is a community project as defined under section 1.2 Identification
Everyone who visits CAcert or makes use of CAcert's data, programs or services.
A CAcert user, who registers at CAcert, but is not assured yet. The email address of these users is checked by simple technical means. Currently only individuals, not legal entities can register.
A registered user who requests and receives a certificate
A CAcert subscriber, who has some level of control over the Internet domain name he requests certificates for at CAcert.
A CAcert assurer, who is entitled by an organisation to vouch for the identity of others users of the organisation.
A CAcert registered user whose identity is verified by an Assurer or other registration authorities.
A CAcert assured user who is authorized by CAcert to verify the identity of other users.
CAcert users, who base their decisions on the fact, that they have been shown a certificate issued by CAcert.
Anyone who bases their decisions on a certificate.
CAcert users, who distribute CAcert's root or intermediate certificates in any way, including but not limited to delivering these certificates with their products, e.g. browsers, mailers or servers.
Contributions are any kind of intellectual property which find their way into the CAcert project with the consent of the copyright holder. Contributions can be code or content, whole modules, files or just a few lines in a larger file.
Contributions can be submitted via any electronic or material path. Entries in CAcerts' systems, including, but not limited to the Content Management System or the Bug Tracking System are considered Contributions.
Contributors are people or entities that make contributions to CAcert, either because they have been paid for this services, or donated them. Services include, but are not limited to any of their own graphical design work, any sections of their code, software, articles, files, or any other material given to CAcert, is considered a "contribution".
An authorized Contributor is a CAcert Contributor, who is authorized by CAcert to access one, several or all internal, non-public and potentially confidential parts of the CAcert web site, CAcert mailing lists or any non-public documents about CAcert.
CAcert operates its own repositories for the root certificates, issued certificates and CRLs.
CAcert publishes it's root certificate and intermediate certificates if applicable, the latest CRL, a copy of this document, other relevant information.
Certificates, CRLs and new information will be published as soon as they are issued. The subscribers acceptance of a certificate is not required.
There is read only web-access for everyone for the information mentioned under 2.1. Other information like registration information requires authentication.
CAcert has implemented logical and physical security measures to prevent unauthorized persons from adding, deleting, or modifying repository entries.
CAcert assigns a Distinguished Name (DN, X.501) to each entity of a registered user.
In case of Client certificates the DN contains:
Other information about the user is collected, but does not go into the certificate.
In case of server certificates the DN contains:
For certificates of organisations, the following fields are used:
no stipulation
no stipulation
Some check for the uniqueness of users is done during registration (More precisely)
We never issue the same DN twice, unless a certificate with a DN is expired or revoked.
The organisation has to present their "Certificate of Incorporation" (or similar document proving the existence of the organisation) to authenticate itself.
CAcert does not automatically verify the name appearing in the certificate, the domain name or any other fields against trademarks or intellectual property rights. CAcert can reject or suspend any certificate without liability in case of a dispute.
no stipulation
c.f. 1.3: There are three steps involved in assuring the identity of an organization: 1) The organization must authorize in writing a named real person to obtain a certificate in the common name (CN) of an organization. 2) The authorized, named real person must become assured. 3) The authorized, named real person must present the following: a) The written authorization to obtain the certificate (item 1 above). b) Proof of legal existence of the organization, in most cases. Items 2 and 3 may be completed simultaneously.
Individuals are assigned a level of trust on a scale from 0 to 200 points. The actual level of trust is not published, only if specified levels are passed.
When passing 50 points, a registered user becomes an assured user. When passing 100 points an assured user becomes an Assurer.
The points assigned depend on the trust reported by the RAs. The details how to gain trust points are subjected to change. C.f. 5.2.
N/A
Domain-owners have to proof the authority over the domain with an Email-ping to one of several standard email addresses of the domain, or one of the email addresses found in the the whois record of the domain.
CAcert doesn't plan to issue certificates to subordinate CA's or other PKIs at this time.
Authentication is done only once and does not expire normally. CAcert registered users will be issued certificates based on their current authentication status.
(* imp) Server Certificates of assured people expire after 2 Years
(* imp) Client Certificates of assured people expire after 1 Year
(* imp) Client Certificates of non-assured people expire after 6 Month
(* imp) Client Certificates of non-assured people expire after 6 Month
(* imp) OpenPGP Signatures expire after 1 Year
New request
Done by the user via web interface.
Anyone who has web-browser capabilities and internet-access is eligible to request CAcert's services.
The user has to generate a key-pair, either with his browser (for client certificates), or manually (for server certificates). The user can decide to store the key-pair on the computer or on a hardware token. The private key is never sent to the CA, or anyone else. Then the certificate request is submitted on the CAcert.org website. The resulting certificate can be downloaded on the website, and is additionally sent by email.
Client certificates are issued to registered users (Persona CA) or to authenticated users.
Server certificates are issued to domain masters.
CAcert relying party assure that they inquired all details necessary to validate their decision. This includes, but is not limited to the check of the presented certificate against expiry time, current certificate revocation list (CRL), certificate chain and the validity check of the certificates in the chain.
The relying party is not freed from these responsibilities by the fact that a redistributor included CAcerts' root or intermediate certificate in a product that the relying party uses.
CAcert does not recommend to use its certificates to secure transactions above $1.000 . If subscribers do so anyway, this may further restrict the liability of CAcert.
A re-key request is a normal new-certificate request.
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Private key compromised or certificate owner identified as fraudulent.
The user for his own certificates. CAcert for fraudulent users.
Web Interface for users, notification of CAcert for fraud.
not defined
A relying party must verify a certificate against the most recent CRL issued, in order to validate the use of the certificate.
CRLs are issued after every certificate revocation
The maximum latency between revocation and CRL issuing is 1 hour.
A full OCSP responder is provided by CAcert under http://ocsp.cacert.org/
no stipulation
None
no stipulation
Suspension of certificates is not available, only revocation.
N/A
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An OCSP Responder is provided unter http://oscp.cacert.org/ .
OCSP is generally available on the internet. Due to the structure of the internet, the availability of the OCSP service can not be guaranteed at any client computer.
N/A
The certificates expire automatically, if necessary, the certificates can be revoked by the user.
CAcert does not offer a key escrow service.
N/A
The servers are located in a dedicated server housing center.
Physical access is restricted by door-locks and security-personnel
The power is maintained with a UPS and a power generator. Air conditioning is available
The geographical region is not at risk of water exposures
Fire detectors are installed
Sensitive data is always encrypted on external media.
Paper has to be shredded and burnt. Digital files have to be wiped with secure wipe programs.
CAcert has encrypted off-site backups
PKI doesn't have any inbuilt methods similar to PGP's Web of Trust to provide peer to peer assurances, so to get round this CAcert Inc. was created to over come this short fall and be able to provide a trust model for peer to peer trust.
This is accomplished by several means.
Email addresses are verified and certificates issued in the following manner:
Before the system will issue server certificates to users, the user must prove similar to the email verification system that they have right to control that domain, and any host or subdomains of the domain.
This is achieved by the following:
For assurance, a minimum number of 2 Assurers are needed.
An audit (WebTrust, ...) of the CA must not be done by someone affiliated with CAcert (Board, Assurer, ...).
Support Personnel, Developers and System administrators have to undergo a detailed background check:
There are no training requirements.
N/A
There is no planned job rotation yet.
In case of unauthorized, grossly negligent or otherwise damaging actions, CAcert can revoke the authorization of a person, and the taken actions that were done, as far as possible.
There are no independent contractors.
CAcert is supplying documentation about general security and social engineering to its personnel
The system is using the common Linux syslog facilities:
The events are stored, and only processed on manual demand
The log files are being archived for at least 6 month.
The access to the audit logs is secured with file permissions, so that only the system administrators have access to the logs.
The log-files are automatically backup´d daily to a backup-server.
N/A
The administrator decides on a case-by-case basis, whether it makes sense to notify the event-causing subject.
The users, organisations, all issued certificates and signatures, and all assurances are recorded
The data retention period is planned to be 30 years, to be usable for digital signature applications
The data is stored in a live-database
The data is regularly backup´d on encrypted media
The records are timestamped with a time-synchronized server
There are no special procedures to obtain archive information
In case of emergency, the system administrators may shut-down the services, until the integrity and security of the system is ensured again
All passwords of the affected systems have to be changed.
The log-files and the data of the backups have to be compared with the current data to detect modifications.
The identity of the intruder has to be determined.
The motives of the intruder have to be determined.
In case of a leak, all unauthorized copies of the data have to tracked down, and securely deleted (wiped, ...).
In the case of corrupted data, a backup can be restored, and the users have to be informed that any changes in the mean time are gone.
In the unlikely case of a private key compromise, first an investigation of the security leak has to be done. Afterwards, a new key is generated, published on the website, and distributed to known relying parties like the browser vendors, ...
In case of a disaster, a new system will have to be setup, and the off-site backups restored.
When an Assurer terminates the operation, the remaining documents have to be sent to CAcert.
The Key Pair is always generated by the user, either offline for server certificates, or online with the Browser.
CAcert never generates Private Keys for users, or delivers them to users.
For OpenPGP key-signatures, the public key together with the certificates is available in the signed key.
The CA public key is always published on the website of CAcert.
Additionally the CA public key can be included in Third-Party Software like Browsers, Email-Clients, ...
The minimum keysize for OpenPGP keys is 1024 Bit.
The minimum keysize for X.509 keys is 1024 Bit.
CAcert conforms to the ETSI SR 002 176: http://webapp.etsi.org/action\PU/20030401/sr_002176v010101p.pdf
The CAcert root certificate is a general purpose certificate.
CAcert is using FIPS 140 minimum Level 2 certified systems.
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The private key is backuped off-site encrypted.
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There are both network firewalls and server based firewalls to secure the systems.
CAcert uses at least NTP time-synchronisation on every sub-component as a trusted time sources.
(imp): X.509 v3
Client certificates do not include extensions.
Server certificates include the following extensions: keyUsage=digitalSignature,keyEncipherment extendedKeyUsage=clientAuth,serverAuth,nsSGC,msSGC
Code-Signing certificates include the following extensions: keyUsage=digitalSignature,keyEncipherment extendedKeyUsage=emailProtection,clientAuth,codeSigning,msCodeInd,msCodeCom,msEFS,msSGC,nsSGC
no stipulation
Is this the same as 3.1.1
Is this the same as 3.1.1
The Policy OID will be a subkey of the key specified under 1.2
no stipulation
no stipulation
no stipulation
(imp): X.509 v2
OCSP Version 1
N/A
CAcert declares to operate in compliance with this CPS.
If you want to contribute an audit for free or at a nominal charge, contact CAcert.
P
P
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P
CAcert will publish the results of an audit on the CAcert.org website when it is available.
Registration and certificate lifetime services (issue, revoke, check) are free, but CAcert retains the right to charge nominal fees for additional services, e.g. the TTP programm, or other services. Due to the nominal nature of these fees, refund is usually not provided.
Membership is appreciated but not required to use CAcert services. Membership fees apply.
There are no certificate issuance or renewal fees.
There are no certificate access fess.
There are no revocation or status information access fees.
A trusted third party assurance directly from CAcert.org costs 10.- USD
A refund of the membership fees is not possible.
No financial responsibility is accepted.
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We are committed to the philosophy of free software, but non of the Open Source Initiative OSI - Licensing perfectly matches the mix of various forms of intellectual property this site consists of, including but not limited to code, content, data, images, design elements. Therefore the terms of GPL will apply to all code which contains such a comment and FDL will apply to all content, which contains such a comment. Elements without such a comment are CAcert proprietary and are not free for distribution. This affects especially the CAcert logo and other elements, which give CAcert its identity. In addition to the GPL/FDL rules, you have to ensure your set up is clearly distinguishable from the original CAcert site and cannot be mistaken for the original.
The contributor assures that the material he contributes is his intellectual property or he has the right to use it for his contribution.
All rights are granted to CAcert, which is covered by payment for services rendered
The contributor grants CAcert Inc. the non-exclusive right to use any contribution, without any obligations of any licenses, such as the GPL's clause about full disclosure. The contributor has the right to reuse any work for other projects and under other licenses, but this right is limited to any actual contribution. Simply making modifications does not give rights over any greater entity or the site in general. (c.f. Contributions
CAcert is freed from any liabilities to the greatest extend permitted by applicable laws. This includes, but is not limited to restricting the liability to gross negligence and intent.
RAs are freed from any liabilities to the greatest extend permitted by applicable laws. This includes, but is not limited to restricting the liability to gross negligence and intent.
The contributor is at least liable for gross negligence and intent. Additional liabilities may be set out in an individual contracts.
The contributor will only be liable for gross negligence and intent.
If CAcert should terminate its operation, the root cert and all user information will be deleted.
If CAcert should be taken over by another organization, the board will decide if it's in the interest of the registered users to be converted to the new organization. Registered users will be notified about this change. A new root certificate will be issued.
If CAcert should terminate its operation, the root cert and all user information will be deleted.
If CAcert should be taken over by another organization, the board will decide if it's in the interest of the registered users to be converted to the new organization. Registered users will be notified about this change. A new root certificate will be issued.
A change of this document requires:
Users will not be warned in advance of changes to this document. Relevant changes will be published in the community as possible.
Alternatively: All CAcert registered users will be notified 1 month before the change becomes effective.
Notification of CAcert cert redistributors depends on the contract we may have with them.
This document might be mirrored to other sites or translated into different languages. In case of differences the version on our main site CAcert Inc. is valid.
This policy is applicable under the law of New South Wales, Australia.
If any term of this policy should be invalid under applicable laws, this term should be replaced by the closest match according to applicable laws and the validity of the other terms should not be affected.
Legal disputes arising from the operation of the CAcert will be treated according to the laws of NSW Australia.
Legal disputes arising from the operation of a CAcert Assurer will be treated according to the laws of the Assurers country.
CAcert will provide information about its users if legally forced to do so.
