Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Certificates error in IE




Certificate errors occur when there is a problem with a certificate or the server's use of the certificate. Internet Explorer can help keep your information more secure by warning you about certificate errors. Usually, a blocking page will appear that will warn you about the problem with the certificate. If you choose to ignore the error and continue, the Address bar will turn red and a message Certificate Error will appear in the Security Status bar. A website's certificate provides identification of the web server. If the certificate has an error, it might indicate that your connection has been intercepted or that the web server is misrepresenting its identity.

Let us see what exactly these error messages stand for:

This website’s security certificate has been revoked

Do not trust this website. This error message often indicates that the security certificate was obtained or used fraudulently by the website. The encryption key that is specified in the certificate might have been compromised or the user listed in a certificate does not have authority to use it . The certification authority that issued the certificate keeps a list of revoked certificates and that list is checked by Internet Explorer.

This website’s address does not match the address in the security certificate

This error indicates that a website is using a digital certificate which was issued to a different web address. This error can also occur if a company owns several websites and uses a certificate that was issued for one web address for another site (for example, for a different department or division). This error should only be ignored if you are confident that the site really is related to the website on the certificate.


This website’s security certificate is out of date

This error occurs when the current date is either before or after the time period during which the certificate is valid. Websites must renew their certificates with a certification authority to stay current. Outdated certificates can be a security risk. After a certificate expires, the Certification Authority that issued the certificate is no longer responsible for ensuring that the certificate is not misused.

This website’s security certificate is not from a trusted source



This error occurs when the certificate has been issued by a certification authority that is not recognized by Internet Explorer. It is unlikely that this error will occur on a legitimate business or banking site. Phishing sites often attempt to use fake certificates that will trigger this error.

Internet Explorer has found a problem with this website’s security certificate



This error occurs when Internet Explorer finds a problem with a security certificate that does not fit any other error conditions. The error can potentially occur because a certificate has been corrupted, tampered with, is written in an unknown format, or is unreadable. You should not trust the identity of the site if the certificate has this error.

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