Dear Readers,
Several of you have let me know that you were concerned about accessing my website, GenealogyAtHeart.com, because you received a popup that said my site was not secure.
The popup was a result of my website’s SSL Certificate expiring. I had used a credit card that had been updated with an expiration date that wasn’t changed on my hosting site. Therefore, the hosting site did not renew the certificate that validates my site is secure.
I first realized this was an issue when I was traveling in Great Britain. I was home for a week before attending a conference in Boston and tried to get the certificate reinstated, however, I erred by going to the content management system (CMS) I use instead of the hosting agent.
I purchased a new certificate from the CMS which said it would take 72 hours to activate. I realized when I was in Boston it had not worked. The company wanted my sign on and password which I was reluctant to provide for several reasons – they were not responsive as it took me 4 emails over 4 days to get a response which was that their business hours are 12 hours different from where I live so they couldn’t respond via a chat or phone call. I asked for my money back which they gave me.
I then tried two other companies but those didn’t work either.
Now that I’ve returned from France and Great Britain I began again to try to get the certificate reissued. I reached out to the Transitional Genealogy Forum and because of two kind posters there, was able to understand that I was seeking the certificate from the wrong entity.
On Friday, I purchased a new certificate. I received an email back with the instructions to reinstall and I have completed that.
Got to love technology because I’m still not seeing that it is operational, though I did receive an email that I could display the above logo on my website since the certificate was issued. You can verify that by going to the company link under the logo.
I have also emailed the company to try to determine why the warning is still showing when trying to access my website. Hopefully, there will be a resolution this week.
You may be wondering what an SSL Certificate is – it stands for Secure Sockets Layer and is a protocol that encrypts and then authenticates data over the internet. This enabled secure communication.
As a blogger, I’m providing one-way communication. I write and you read, however, I do have an option to “Leave a Comment.”
I also have a Specials to Share page where I publicize items that I find that my readers might be interested in. I do not take any money through my website but you would want to only use a website that did have an SSL Certificate if you were paying for items.
While I await the fix to my SSL tech issue, if you are hesitant to visit my website, you may also read my blogs at genealogyatheart.blogspot.com.
Thanks for your understanding.