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Russia's Digital Doors Slam Shut: Global Certificates Revoked
18 Aug
Summary
- GlobalSign revoked Russian TLS certificates in June 2026 due to sanctions.
- Seven major Russian banks now use untrusted state-issued certificates.
- Ukraine warns of increased cyberattack vulnerability for Russian systems.
In June 2026, Japanese certificate authority GlobalSign revoked TLS certificates for numerous Russian domains, citing new CA/Browser Forum rules mandating checks against US and EU sanctions lists. This action, implemented in two waves, affected an estimated 15,000-20,000 domains initially, followed by 310 domains across 44 major companies like Rosneft and Gazprombank.
The fallout has left several Russian entities, including seven major banks and state services like the Federal Tax Service, with certificates from a state root that mainstream browsers do not trust. This necessitates manual installation by users, a process Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service warns exposes Russian banking, email, and internal systems to increased cyberattack risks.
While Russian companies are seeking alternatives, such as certificates from China's TrustAsia, and promoting a state-issued root certificate, security experts caution that state control could enable HTTPS traffic interception. Reconfiguring infrastructure is estimated to cost larger corporations between 10 to 50 million rubles and take up to six months, with potential for errors.
