Errors with Secure Websites

You cannot access secure websites or some parts of them don't work correctly. You may see your address bar in Internet Explorer or Firefox turn red and pop up a warning.

This problem can be caused by either your computer or by the server that you're attempting to access. Secure websites use digital certificates to confirm that the data is coming from the source you believe it to be coming from and is encrypted between the server and your computer. They are issued by the year, like a magazine subscription. It must be between these dates for the computer to accept the certificate. If it is your computer which is causing the problem, the most common reason is that your clock is set incorrectly. Make sure the right date and time is in your system and then try accessing the website again. If it is the server, the most common reason is that the certificate is expired or was issued by a non-mainstream provider like Verisign. In this case, you'll need to contact the server owner or webmaster to correct the problem. The final and rarest possibilitity is that Internet Explorer or Firefox identified the site as a phishing website. That means that it is a duplicate of a real website like a bank site but is actually a fake. There is malicious code in the site which can steal your personal information and then use it to your disadvantage (e.g. identitiy theft) on the real website. IE and Firefox will likely both throw a blatant warning in your face that this may be the case and unless you're absolutely sure you are not at a phishing site you should heed this warning without delay.

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