Mysterious company with government ties plays key internet role

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An offshore company that is trusted by the major web browsers and other tech companies to vouch for the legitimacy of websites has connections to contractors for US intelligence agencies and law enforcement, according to security researchers, documents, and interviews. Google’s Chrome, Apple’s Safari, nonprofit Firefox, and others allow the company, TrustCor Systems, to act as what’s known as a root certificate authority, a powerful spot in the internet’s infrastructure that guarantees websites are not fake, guiding users to them seamlessly. The company’s Panamanian registration records show that it has the identical slate of officers, agents, and partners as a spyware maker identified as an affiliate of Arizona-based Packet Forensics, which public contracting records and company documents show has sold communication interception services to US government agencies for more than a decade. TrustCor’s products include an email service that claims to be end-to-end encrypted, though experts said they found evidence to undermine that claim. A test version of the email service also included spyware developed by a Panamanian company related to Packet Forensics, researchers said. 


Mysterious company with government ties plays key internet role