News and Announcements

Certificate Errors when accessing some UW-Madison services

Posted: 2021-10-01 14:13:44   Expiration: 2021-10-31 14:13:44

Disclaimer: This news item was originally posted on 2021-10-01 14:13:44. Its content may no longer be timely or accurate.

A number of websites and applications around the world reported errors Thursday and Friday due to the expiration of a root certificate provided by Let's Encrypt, one of the largest providers of HTTPS certificates. UW-Madison users may be impacted as well.

On September 30th, a widely used root certificate provided by Let's Encrypt expired. Some users may experience errors connecting to various websites, including the wisc.edu domain.

At this time, all UW-Madison websites and services are all offering valid, updated certificates.

However, some UW-Madison users may continue to experience errors attempting to connect to certain websites. Errors may mention:

  • SSL
  • Invalid Certificate
  • Chain
  • "Your connection is not private"
  • "Attackers might be trying to steal your information from ..."
  • NET::ERR_CERT_DATE_INVALID

Users encountering this issue are advised to update their devices, operating systems (OS), and clients, including Internet browsers. These certificates are built into your OS and are typically updated as part of the normal OS update process.

For functionality and security reasons, we recommend regularly checking for and applying available OS updates.

To see the full list of compatible versions, please visit Let's Encrypt - Certificate Compatibility.

For further assistance, please Get Help from DoIT.

Support for device updates

-- DoIT Help Desk: Dana Gerber-Margie