Website Certificate Expired

[eve1974]

When clicking on a website I’m told that the certificate expired 60 days ago.

Yet when I click thru it still shows the website.

What does this mean?

[Buenchico]

Check that the date is correctly set on your computer, as an incorrect date can result in warnings about security certificates.

If the date is correctly set, then the problem lies 'at the other end', meaning that the website owner hasn't purchased an up-to-date security certificate for the site. (A valid security certificate indicates that the site is safe to use but the absence of one doesn't necessarily mean that it's unsafe).

If the site is one which you visit on a 'read only' basis, the absence of a valid security certificate isn't anything that you need to worry about. However if it's a site that you interact with (e.g. by submitting data to it or by making purchases through it), it might be best to cease doing do until the security certificate has been brought up to date.

[eve1974]

V helpful! Ty!

[eve1974]

another question - so if the certificate has expired why is the website still able to be viewed (if people click through the warnings). Is that because the domain name is bought etc? just curious with this part.

[Buenchico]

Nobody is obliged to purchase a security certificate for their website. If, for example, you created your own website to show people photos of your pets, you wouldn't need one. However, without using the 'SSL' (secure socket layer) way of transferring data, which is required to get a security certificate, modern browsers would warn visitors to your site that it's 'not secure' (which wouldn't actually matter in the least).

The Answerbank [as an example] doesn't really need to use SSL technology (since all the data you send to it is intended to be on public view anyway) but, in order to prevent people getting worried through seeing 'not secure' messages, uses it anyway. (That's why there's a padlock symbol next to your address bar, showing that this site has a valid security certificate).

If The Answerbank staff forgot to renew their security certificate, this site would still be safe to use but your browser would warn you that the certificate it was seeing was no longer valid. It's not the job of your browser to totally block potentially unsafe sites, as it has no way of knowing which sites are actually safe or unsafe; all it can do is to let you know that there might be a problem. So, after providing you with a warning, it allows you to continue using the site that your post is about but at your own risk.

[eve1974]

Interesting and brilliantly explained thank you