Invalid Security Error

How do I fix "invalid security certificate" error when connecting to the CS webserver?

When you connect to a web server using secure SSL via https:// URLs, your web browser will attempt to verify the identity of the server. The way it does this is by checking with the known signature authorities, like Verisign. This doesn't mean that there is a security problem, just that the web browser can't verify the identity of the web server.

Below are instructions on how to proceed when using Firefox 3.x, Internet Explorer 7, and Safari 3.x. You should also be able to eliminate this problem by importing the CS certificate.

Firefox 3.x

You may encounter "Secure Connection failed - Uses an invalid security certificate" error, if you are using Firefox browser version 3.0 or above. A pop-up window appears with "Secure Connection Failed" and does not let you to proceed.

This error can be fixed with a few clicks to basically say "yes, I trust the certificate". To trust the certificate, perform the following steps:

  • Bottom of the pop-up window has a link to "add an exception.. "; Click on this link.
  • A button will appear to "Add Exception.."; Click on this button.
  • A window will appear to "add the Security Exception" for https://www.cs.sunysb.edu url; Click on "Get Certificate" button and then click to "Confirm Security Exception"

This is a one time fix. Adding the security exception will eliminate the error for future browsing.

Internet Explorer 7

When this happen with IE, you will get an error message like " there is a problem with this website's security certificate. The security certificate presented by this website was not issued by a trusted certificate authority".

This is normal and in order to continue you can just click on "Continue to this website (not recommended)". If you want to prevent this error from happening each time you use IE, you can do the following to add a permanent exception

  • Click on the box to the right of the web address, which has "Certificate Error" in it.
  • In the Untrusted Certificate box, click on View Certificates at the bottom.
  • Click on the General tab and then click on Install Certificate
  • At the Welcome to the Certificate Import Wizard, click Next
  • With "Automatically select the certificate store based on the type of certificate" selected, click Next
  • At the "Completing the Certificate Import Wizard" click Finish.
  • You should see the Certificate Import Box, which should say "The import was successful". Click OK.
  • Click OK to clear the Certificate Import Wizard.

This is a one time fix. Adding the security exception will eliminate the error for future browsing.

Safari 3.x

When this happen with Safari, you will get an error message like " safari can't verify the identity of the website "..cs.sunysb.edu"

This is normal and in order to continue you can just click on "Show Certificate" which will show an another window basically asking you to trust the certificate. At this point, you can do the following:

  • Check the "Always Trust ..." checkbox.
  • (Optional) Expand "Trust" and "Details" and verify that it says "Always Trust" in the Trust section.
  • Click "Continue".
  • If prompted, login with your local username and password and click "OK".

There have been reports of Safari hanging after making this change so if this happens just "Force Quit" and you should be fine after that. This is a one time fix. Adding the security exception will eliminate the error for future browsing.