Subject: Re: [pkix] Questioning the benefit of random serials over sequential ones in x.509 certificates

From: Peter Gutmann <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2012 22:11:08 +0000

Piyush Jain <[email-masked]> writes:

>But if you are using a strong hashing algorithm, what is the benefit of
>issuing certificates with random serial values?

It doesn't allow third parties to track how many (or few) certs your CA has
issued.  Making the serial number sequential gives your competition a day-by-
day breakdown of how many certs you're selling.

Peter.