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Security Cert Expired for Forum?

Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2018 12:37 pm
by algale
Both my phone and my laptop are telling me the security certificate for the site is expired. Anyone else getting a similar message?

Re: Security Cert Expired for Forum?

Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2018 12:49 pm
by reible
Yes as of the 21st. This happened before as I recall.

Ed

Re: Security Cert Expired for Forum?

Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2018 2:48 pm
by mountainbreeze
Yes

Re: Security Cert Expired for Forum?

Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2018 3:16 pm
by rpd
Me too,

Re: Security Cert Expired for Forum?

Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2018 3:18 pm
by algale
Whast's the practical impact (if any)?

Re: Security Cert Expired for Forum?

Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2018 4:13 pm
by rpd
algale wrote:Whast's the practical impact (if any)?
With Firefox I had to enter a security exception before it would allow me to get on this web site.

Re: Security Cert Expired for Forum?

Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2018 5:11 pm
by JPG
algale wrote:Whast's the practical impact (if any)?
It lowers the threshold at which paranoia sets in. :D

Yes there IS a legitimate reason for needing 'warnings', but a year(s) old arbitrarily assigned expiration date being one day beyond the 'limit' seems excessively nervous.

Re: Security Cert Expired for Forum?

Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2018 7:24 pm
by edflorence
Yes, and also got a "connection is not secure" notification when I logged in. Had to get to the forum through the link on the SS site. Not really an issue; I assume the security cert will get un-expired somehow and the shortcut will work again.

Re: Security Cert Expired for Forum?

Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2018 10:54 am
by mountainbreeze
So. How can one make this stop. I am still getting the errors.

Re: Security Cert Expired for Forum?

Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2018 2:29 pm
by everettdavis
mountainbreeze wrote:So. How can one make this stop. I am still getting the errors.
You don't want to make this stop. It is a protection for you to insure the site you visit is a valid site not a clone site trying to harvest your credit card information.

The SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate is a file that has a specific time to live (a date expiration) that a company buys to encrypt the connection between your browser, and their server.

Various certificate licensing companies exist that test the the certificate they issued to the license holder (in this case Shopsmith.com) is coming not only from the specific server name Shopsmith installed it on, but from the specific address on the very machine it was installed.

This frames the encryption key used effectively scrambling all of the data you communicate over the internet in buying, or even viewing things on Shopsmith website.

It is not uncommon for them to expire, and it may take a few days for the certificate company they use to generate a new certificate, get it to them, and have their IT group install it on the specific server, with the authoritative public facing ip address it was meant to be installed upon.

If you choose not to order on-line due to the certificate expiring, just give them a call and place your order over the phone til they get it updated. Then it will be good to go for another two or three years.

It is therefore not something you can fix. It is however a good indication your personal computer is looking for secure connections and warning you if one is not present.

https://www.amazon.com/ tells you for example that the secure socket layer is established and working (opposed to a http: connection) where purchasing is not involved.

More and more companies use https to insure you know their site is a valid connection, trusted to be authentic location.

It does not protect you from a virus, worm or other malware that might be present on the site if it were compromised (hacked).

That's why your local computer uses antivirus, anti-malware, and firewall software tools to protect you as best they can.

Hoped that helped someone better understand what the warnings mean.

Everett