Dutch Government Shutters Web Security Firm over Iran Hacking

Dutch prosecutors are investigating whether a US Internet security firm's Dutch affiliate was criminally negligent in a case involving Google and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Dutch-domiciled firm -- DigiNotar -- sells "certificates guaranteeing the security of websites," according to an AP story picked up by the San Jose Mercury News. In this case, the firm "had used weak passwords, failed to update software on its public servers and no antivirus protection on its internal servers." One consequence of this apparently sloppy oversight was that Iranian internal police could spy on its own citizens, using Google as a sort of Trojan Horse to enter into peoples' online communications and their computers.

The case came to light shortly after Google more or less outed DigiNotar and its troubling business claims.

DigiNotar is owned by Vasco, a Chicagoland-based Internet security enterprise. Major institutional investors in this NASDAQ-listed firm include Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street.

PS. The New York Times reported in its September 12, 2011 edition further details about this story, including information about a superhacker alleged to be the mastermind of the Iranian snooping.