New Delhi

Sharesof eMudhra plunged nearly 20 per cent to a 52-week low on Thursday, after the government said it has constituted a special team to investigate a security incident at the digital certification company.

eMudhra issues digital signature and website security certificates to enable them to securely connect to browsers for public access.

On the NSE, the stock tumbled 19.91 per cent to Rs 346 apiece. The scrip of the company tanked 19.63 per cent to Rs 346.85 per share on the BSE.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Wednesday said it has constituted a special team to investigate a security incident at eMudhra, whose digital certificates help browsers confirm that a website is genuine.

The reported security incident largely pertains to global certificate biz, and the impact on Indian sites and applications is “very limited”, it said in a statement.

The statement from the government assumes significance as Indian digital certification authority eMudhra has revealed that private keys associated with its certificates have been compromised, which verify trusted digital assets and ensure secure online data transmission.

The shocking disclosure came after an advisory from the cybersecurity watchdog CERT-In. A senior company official said weak keys were created by eight out of 40 certifying authorities but never put to commercial use, implying there was no cyber security incidence due to vulnerable keys.

“There’s no impact to subscribers because we have done all the actions,” eMudhra co-founder Kaushik Srinivasan told PTI, adding that the company is working with its customers to notify them that there is no impact because no certificates were issued.