Dutch government struggles with DigiNotar hack
The Dutch government is trying to minimize the effect of the DigiNotar hack on its IT infrastructure but warned it's a time-consuming process: Not all the SSL certificates can be replaced on the fly.
Piet Hein Donner, minister of the interior, said in a press conference on Tuesday that the government will work as quickly as possible to replace all the DigiNotar SSL certificates in use. However, if the certificates are withdrawn immediately it will be damaging, he warned.
"It particularly concerns the fully automated communication between computers," Donner said. If the certificates are withdrawn right now it would disturb or even block Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication. That is why the Dutch government chose a "phased and controlled" migration to other certificates. While website certificates should be replaced by Saturday, he said, replacing those involved in M2M communication will take longer.
