What Is A Trusted / Secure Connection?

Some sites, e.g. online banking or online shopping sites are encrypted with the SSL protocol for greater transaction security. Such websites start with https:// instead of http://, so that you can easily recognize them. Additionally, a tiny yellow padlock appears in your browser's status bar (usually in the right-bottom corner) to indicate a secure connection.

When you visit a secured site, your Web browser checks if the site is using a valid SSL-certificate to identify itself as trusted and genuine.

If there is a problem with the SSL-certificate, your browser will display an alert, informing you about potential threats of continued browsing.

There are several types of problems with SSL certificates' validation, you may come across:

• The certificate is self-signed: Administrators often use self-signed certificates to save on registration costs. While data sent to such websites is still encrypted, the certificate will say you nothing about who the recipient of the data is.
• The certificate is only valid for a specified Website, but the Website you are viewing uses a different URL: This error is telling you what it says - you are sending data to other site than the one specified in the certificate.
  However, sometimes the certificate may be used for a different subdomain on the same site, and trigger the alert. For example a certificate for www.example.com will be invalid for example.com
• The certificate expired: The website may be using an outdated certificate, which means they didn't renew their subscription with their certificate provider.
  Sometimes your Web browser may trigger the expiration alert when your system clock date is wrong. To fix the issue, set your computer clock to the correct date and time.