Common Certificate Errors

The following list contains a list of common certificate errors and information about what they mean.

Error message: This website's security certificate has been revoked

What it means: Do not trust this website. This error message often indicates that the security certificate was obtained or used fraudulently by the website. The encryption key that is specified in the certificate might have been compromised or the user listed in a certificate does not have authority to use it (for example, the company was sold). The certification authority that issued the certificate keeps a list of revoked certificates and that list is checked by Internet Explorer.

Error message: This website's address does not match the address in the security certificate

What it means: This error indicates that a website is using a digital certificate which was issued to a different web address. This error can also occur if a company owns several websites and uses a certificate that was issued for one web address for another site (for example, for a different department or division). This error should only be ignored if you are confident that the site really is related to the website on the certificate.

Error message: This website's security certificate is out of date

What it means: This error occurs when the current date is either before or after the time period during which the certificate is valid. Websites must renew their certificates with a certification authority to stay current. Outdated certificates can be a security risk. After a certificate expires, the Certification Authority that issued the certificate is no longer responsible for ensuring that the certificate is not misused.

Error message: This website's security certificate is not from a trusted source

What it means: This error occurs when the certificate has been issued by a certification authority that is not recognized by Internet Explorer. It is unlikely that this error will occur on a legitimate business or banking site. Phishing sites often attempt to use fake certificates that will trigger this error.

Error message: Internet Explorer has found a problem with this website's security certificate

What it means: This error occurs when Internet Explorer finds a problem with a security certificate that does not fit any other error conditions. The error can potentially occur because a certificate has been corrupted, tampered with, is written in an unknown format, or is unreadable. You should not trust the identity of the site if the certificate has this error.

Error message: This security certificate was issued by a company that you have not chosen to trust

What it means: The root certificate of the Certificate Authority (CA) that issued the Web site's certificate is not in the client browser's Trusted Root Certification Authority store. The message does not affect the establishment of a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) session between the client and the server.

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