Sciencemadness Discussion Board

HTTPS certificate insecure?

RobertRobinson75 - 10-5-2013 at 00:01

When I select the option on the main page to connect using HTTPS, I receive a warning that the certificate is possibly insecure. Any information on why this is the case?

Finnnicus - 10-5-2013 at 00:05

It's just your browser freaking out at unidentified HTTPS. Silly machine.

woelen - 10-5-2013 at 08:47

The problem is that sciencemadness seems to use either a self-signed certificate or an out of date certificate. A certificate from a trusted CA can be quite expensive, so many sites use self-signed certificates. With a self-signed certificate you do have the benefit of encrypted communication between server and client, but you do not have the guarantee of identification.

RobertRobinson75 - 13-5-2013 at 06:49

Ah ok, thanks for the explanation.