Security Cerficate Expired!... What does it mean?

Philippines
August 3, 2008 1:03am CST
I often encounter certain sites I want to visit and as it turns out it's security certificate has expired. I am using mozilla firefox and I cannot proceed to my desired sites even if I want to. But if I use explorer I am given a choice to continue or not. My friend said that it is not safe to do so because of the risk of acquiring viruses. Is this really true? I am not much of a computer/internet savvy and I don't know what to do. Kindly help. I will really appreciate it.
1 person likes this
2 responses
@nanciem (1105)
• United States
3 Aug 08
Just continue.. trust me, What this means is just a 'warning" letting you know that the site you are trying to reach is not compatible with your system.. I.e. Windows Vista connecting to a windows 2003 Dusiness Server... I see this all the time, I upload a new security certificate, people downlaod this and the same result.. it is yet another bug in the windows operating system.. Just continue.
@movicont (495)
• United States
3 Aug 08
Ummm, it's not a bug in the Windows operating system. Windows Vista should not have any problems connecting to a Windows 2003 server. There are no relationships there. It's about a SSL Certificate, which offers SSL encryption for site visitors. It's very useful if you're accessing a site that contains sensitive data, or if you're giving out sensitive data. SSL Certs can cost quite a bit of money though, which may explain why some sites have expired ones.
1 person likes this
@nanciem (1105)
• United States
3 Aug 08
Ummm yes it is.. Check out the MS KB, there is a fix for this issue. It is a trust Cert.
1 person likes this
@movicont (495)
• United States
3 Aug 08
It depends on what you are doing. If the form information you are submitting contains sensitive data, you need to make sure the site has a verified SSL Certificate (i.e., security certificate) before submitting. Industry standard for SSL certificates happens to be VeriSign, so that would be more preferable. If you're just accessing the site, SSL certs matter less. Also, Firefox lets you access it, you just have to tell it to add the site to a list of "allowed" sites and it'll let you in.
1 person likes this
@ferdzNK (3211)
• Philippines
4 Aug 08
So this is more of the problem of the site and not the visitors, the site is compromising the security feature they have put up in the first place.