SSL Basics
Most websites have an "SSL Certificate" on their domain name to encrypt the information flowing between your website server and the people using your website.
When a website does NOT have an active SSL Certificate, most web browsers will display a warning or error message regarding the potential for insecure activities to occur while people use an insecure website.
SSL Certificates need to be periodically renewed since they are always issued with an expiry date.
SSL Expiry Date
Anyone can look-up the expiry date for the SSL Certificate on a given website. The process is a bit different for each web browser. Follow the instructions for your web browser below.
SSL Expiry Date Look-up (Google Chrome)
Go to the website's domain name using "https://" plus the domain name. For example, to go to "mycompany.com" then enter "
https://mycompany.com/" into the web browser.
If the website does NOT have an SSL Certificate, or it has EXPIRED, then you will receive one or more of the following:
- "Not secure" beside the website domain name that you entered
- "Your connection is not private"
- "ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID"
- "ERR_CERT_DATE_INVALID"
If there is a small padlock icon beside the website domain name that you entered:
- Click the padlock icon
- In the pop-up area, click "Certificate (Valid)"
- Find the "Valid from" line and look at the second date (after "to") to determine when this SSL Certificate expires
SSL Expiry Date Look-up (Mozilla Firefox)
Go to the website's domain name using "https://" plus the domain name. For example, to go to "mycompany.com" then enter "
https://mycompany.com" into the web browser.
If the website does NOT have an SSL Certificate, or it has EXPIRED, then you will receive one or more of the following:
- "Warning: Potential Security Risk Ahead" (click [Advanced...] to see an explanation)
- "SSL_ERROR_BAD_CERT_DOMAIN"
- "SEC_ERROR_EXPIRED_CERTIFICATE"
If there is a small letter "(i)" in a circle or a small padlock icon beside the website domain name that you entered:
- Click the (i) or padlock icon
- Find the "Connection" line
- If it says "Connection is not secure" then there is either no SSL Certificate or the SSL Certificate has expired
- If it says "Secure Connection" then click the ">" at the right-side of this line
- At the bottom of the next section, Click "More Information"
- Find the "Expires on" line to determine when this SSL Certificate expires
SSL Expiry Date Look-up (Microsoft Edge)
Go to the website's domain name using "https://" plus the domain name. For example, to go to "mycompany.com" then enter "
https://mycompany.com" into the web browser.
If the website does NOT have an SSL Certificate, or it has EXPIRED, then you will receive one or more of the following:
- "Certificate error" beside the website domain name that you entered
- "This site is not secure" (click "Details" to see an explanation)
- "DLG_FLAGS_SEC_CERT_CN_INVALID"
- "DLG_FLAGS_SEC_CERT_DATE_INVALID"
- Other "DLG_FLAGS_SEC_CERT_..." errors
If there is a small padlock icon beside the website domain name that you entered:
- Click the padlock icon
- Click "View certificate"
- If you find "Certificate error" under a domain name (near the top), then there is NO active SSL Certificate for this website.
- If you find "Valid Certificate" under a domain name (near the top), then you should have an active SSL Certificate for the domain name that is listed. If this is a multi-site SSL Certificate, then your domain name might not be listed at the top, but you might need to scroll down to the "Subject alternate name" section to find your domain name in the list.
- If you have a "Valid Certificate", then find the "Valid to" heading to determine when this SSL Certificate expires