It is surely easier to target and then hack specific engineers at VPN and certificate authorities, then steal their private keys and bingo, a great little lookup key database.<p>GCHQ and Belgacom spring to mind:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.spiegel.de&#x2F;international&#x2F;europe&#x2F;british-spy-agency-gchq-hacked-belgian-telecoms-firm-a-923406.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.spiegel.de&#x2F;international&#x2F;europe&#x2F;british-spy-agenc...</a><p>Let&#x27;s have a show of hands. Anyone got unencrypted private keys on their machine or on their server? How hard is it to steal those?<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;security.stackexchange.com&#x2F;questions&#x2F;25437&#x2F;what-issues-arise-from-sharing-a-ssl-certificates-private-key" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;security.stackexchange.com&#x2F;questions&#x2F;25437&#x2F;what-issue...</a><p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.symantec.com&#x2F;connect&#x2F;blogs&#x2F;how-attackers-steal-private-keys-digital-certificates" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.symantec.com&#x2F;connect&#x2F;blogs&#x2F;how-attackers-steal-pr...</a>