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What to Do When Your SSL Certificate Expires

We live in a fast pacing life; it is common to forget the important tasks to be done. So, it is fine if you do not do things on time but make sure you will act accordingly. However, you cannot neglect the fact that the factors which will add up to your business and reputation in the market.

So, if an SSL certificate is expired, it is obvious that the certificate becomes invalid. Therefore, you can be able to run the websites securely. Also, all the transactions that are done through websites are also not secured. The only solution to this problem is to renew digital certificate immediately. The Certification Authority will however prompt to renew SSL certificate very much prior to the expiration date. Generally, you should renew certificate 90 days before the expiry date and within 15 days after the SSL expiration.

What to Do When Your SSL Certificate Expires

What happens when your SSL certificate expires?

Everynow and then, SSL expiration makes headlines which claim over 250 SSL certificates have been expired related to the U.S government and its work shutdown. Well, there are still many people who think it is no big deal to renew digital certificate. We will discuss a few points which will be an eyeopener to many people who neglect the aspect of SSL expiration and have no idea what to do next. It will no doubt affect both the website owners and also the website users or visitors.

Some of the results of Expired SSL include:

1. Trust Issues:

Whenever an SSL / TLS certificates expires, all the websites can retain the certificates and the valuable information in the certificates. But the websites show that it is no longer safe to use. Then the users will feel insecure and feel the data can be misused in many ways and will ultimately leave the website. So, there will trust issues that the websites should be ready to cope up with. The users will be in confusion that the website they are exploring is secured or it is just claiming to be safe. It is the responsibility of the website owners or e-commerce website owners to renew the digital certificate to keep the trust alive in the customers.

2. Sales loss:

To let an SSL expire has many bad effects in the business. One of them is reduced business and sales loss. An expired SSL certificate gives a negative impression about the website and it is obvious that the users can abandon the cart and transaction and visit another website which a business competitor is. Moreover, dealing with the expired SSL increases the time they will consume in finding what the actual problem is.

According to Symantec reports, 90% of the customers stop the transaction if they find a digital certificates expiry warning as the personal information is not safe with them. Over 75% of users will leave the website without even second thought.

3. Damaged Reputation:

With an expired SSL / TLS certificate there is not only a major loss to the business but also to the reputation of the business website. No users or customers will show interest to the non-safe and insecure websites and will never do any transactions.

Customers will have a fear of data and information breach while any online transactions are being made. So, if they come across any warning message that the website is not secure and the SSL has expired will leave them in doubt, resulting in sales and reputation loss of the company.

What to Do When Your SSL Certificate Expires

4. It affects website owner and website user:

Some services function normally if website owners cross the renewal date also. However, to let an SSL certificate expire is not at all a good idea. It will affect both the owners and users of the website. To avoid such bad consequences, it is always best to renew SSL / TLS certificate on time, to avoid further business damage. When customers will move away from the website, it directly affects the business as well start to reduce profit. It also affects website creditability.

Website Owner:
  • As mentioned, trust issues crop up. The insecurity levels increase.
  • Loss in sales. Almost shopping carts will be abandoned.
  • Big brands lose their brand reputations. The business may be at risk while compromising the website’s safety and security.
Website User:
  • Shows warning messages displayed by the respective internet browsers, saying the website is not safe.
  • Maximum chances of cyber-attacks and data breaches.
  • Website users can undergo identity thefts, money frauds, and their accounts hacked.

No matter how careful you are, sometimes you land in the SSL expiration. Even big shot companies had to face a lot of problems because of this SSL expiry issues. One of examples is LinkedIn. In the year 2017 in December. The LinkedIn sites in UK, US have gone some trouble. However, it immediately took steps to renew the SSL and was saved without much loss.

Conclusion:

To forget to renew SSL certificate happens sometimes, but you can avoid this by properly checking or even using tools which keeps regular check on the SSL, and you can easily track the date of SSL renewal. Not everything is automating, so ultimately it is the responsibility of the system management team to look after this. Like we all know, a stitch in time saves nine!!

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