{"id":1306,"date":"2020-02-17T05:02:09","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T13:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ssls.com\/blog\/?p=1306"},"modified":"2023-09-27T14:27:47","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T21:27:47","slug":"what-to-do-when-your-ssl-certificate-is-not-trusted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ssls.com\/blog\/what-to-do-when-your-ssl-certificate-is-not-trusted\/","title":{"rendered":"What to do when your SSL certificate is not trusted"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nobody who has taken the time to purchase and install an SSL certificate<\/a> wants to encounter the dreaded \u201ccertificate not trusted\u201d message on their browser when trying to access their website. Unfortunately, it can happen for a variety of reasons.
\nSometimes these messages pop up due to a system error or certain settings on your web browser. For instance, if the time and date of your computer aren\u2019t accurate, or if you haven\u2019t cleared your cache in a while. For an in-depth look at how to fix SSL certificates<\/a> on your system and Google Chrome, check out this blog post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But your SSL certificate may not be trusted for very legitimate reasons. Here are three common reasons why your SSL certificate isn\u2019t trusted and how you can fix them.<\/p>\n

Problem 1: Your SSL was not issued by a recognized Certificate Authority<\/h2>\n

Although SSL certificates can be issued by anybody, not all SSL certificates are considered equally legitimate by web browsers. There is a very small number of Certificate Authorities that are trusted by most major web browsers, and if your SSL wasn\u2019t issued by one of them, you\u2019ll more than likely encounter some issues.<\/p>\n

It might be tempting to go for a free self-signed SSL certificate, however, more often than not, it\u2019s risky. These certificates are not issued by a trusted CA, so it won\u2019t have gone through the same kind of validation process (not to mention you won\u2019t receive the same kind of support and warranty as you would from a paid option). A self-signed SSL certificate is exactly what it sounds like \u2014 it\u2019s signed by the person who it was issued by. With self-signed SSLs, you will have a HTTPs connection, but website visitors will not be able to visit your site. Most major web browsers will not recognize these kinds of certificates as trustworthy, as you have not been validated by a trusted third-party authority. It doesn\u2019t matter if you don\u2019t have malicious intentions, the browser does not know you, therefore it will not trust you.<\/p>\n

Beyond the issue of mistrust from browsers, it\u2019s never a good idea to use a self-signed SSL certificate for a public website. The only acceptable time to use self-signed SSLs is for testing purposes for sites and services that are not publicly accessible.<\/p>\n

How to solve it<\/h3>\n

Purchase an SSL certificate from a trusted Certificate Authority.<\/p>\n

Problem 2: SSL installation was not completed properly<\/h2>\n

In life, mistakes happen, and SSL installation is no exception. Sometimes things can go wrong during the SSL installation process, particularly if you haven\u2019t done it before or you\u2019re less technically inclined. Common errors include a lost Private Key or setting up the SSL configuration improperly. Unfortunately, when there are errors during SSL installation, browsers will consider your certificate to be untrustworthy.<\/p>\n

How to solve it<\/h3>\n

Go through the installation process again to see what might have done wrong. Check out our knowledgebase for guidance<\/a>, and don\u2019t hesitate to get in touch with customer support<\/a> if you need help.<\/p>\n

Problem 3: Your SSL certificate has expired<\/h2>\n

SSL certificates aren\u2019t valid forever. Most issuers will send several warnings in the lead up to your SSL\u2019s expiration date, prompting you to renew it. If for some reason you miss these, your SSL certificate may expire without you noticing. It doesn\u2019t matter that your website once had a secure<\/a> HTTPS connection even just a day before, as soon as your SSL expires, a browser will stop considering your site as trustworthy.<\/p>\n

How to solve it<\/h3>\n

Unfortunately once they have expired, SSL Certificates can\u2019t be renewed. Solve the problem by purchasing a new SSL certificate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Wrap Up<\/h2>\n

Having SSL on your site is generally straightforward and painless, but sometimes things can go wrong. By obtaining SSLs only from legitimate Certificate Authorities, installing them properly, keeping an eye on the expiration date, and checking the settings on both your operating system and browser, you are unlikely to encounter any problems. If you\u2019ve gone through the steps outlined in this article and you\u2019re still having issues, our customer support would be happy to help<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nobody who has taken the time to purchase and install an SSL certificate wants to encounter the dreaded \u201ccertificate not trusted\u201d message on their browser when trying to access their website. Unfortunately, it can happen for a variety of reasons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssls.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssls.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssls.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssls.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssls.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1306"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssls.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2699,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssls.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1306\/revisions\/2699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssls.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssls.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssls.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}