Security certificate blocks only "destructive" content – National Security Committee of Kazakhstan

AKIPRESS.COM - The security certificate is used for decrypting encrypted traffic and blocking only "destructive" pages and content, InformBureau reported citing Deputy Director of the State Security Service of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan Zeken Ismailov. "Media reports repeatedly claim that the security certificate allows decrypting encrypted traffic. But it is possible online. This is applied only to illegal content. Roughly speaking, no one stores your messages, history of visits, social network page, no one stores passwords and won't do. There is a list of illegal content and it is determined by authorities and courts," he said.
According to him, any technological solution has its failures, therefore there are occasional failures with Internet access in Kazakhstan. He noted that users should contact the call center of the service provider or State Security Service in case of problems with Internet access due to the security certificate.
Ismailov confirmed the existence of technical possibility to block a VPN saying that blocking will happen on "destructive contents" on the basis of court's decision or order of the relevant authorities.
Earlier, Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of Kazakhstan Askar Zhumagaliyev said that he recently installed a security certificate on his phone.
According to him, civil servants use the security certificate on stationary computers for a year and a half. Over the past month, a security certificate revealed more than 8 million facts of viral activity and protected state bodies from 130,000 cyber attacks, Zhumagaliyev said.
To date, the security certificate has no trusted status in the browser.
The Ministry on July 17 recommended Kazakhstan to install the security certificate to avoid problems with access to certain Internet resources.
Later, Vice Minister Ablaikhan Ospanov clarified that installing certificates is not necessary, the Internet will not stop working without them.
IT-specialists, meanwhile, express concerns that the owner of the certificate (in this case, the state) will get access to all personal information of Kazakhstan people on the Internet (content of websites, passwords, messages, payment card data).
Meanwhile, some foreign experts believe that the security certificate will allow the Kazakh authorities to gain access to personal user data, and this initiative can be described as an attempt by the government to spy on citizens.