Lakhs of internet users may lose connectivity on their devices on September 30. Read below to find out if you’re one of them.
It might be the end of time for internet usage on lakhs of devices from Thursday, September 30. This includes older generations of Apple Macs and iPhones, Nintendo 3DS gaming consoles, Sony PlayStation 3 and even some PlayStation 4 consoles, a huge number of smart TVs and other smart devices and, once widely used, set-top boxes.
The internet connectivity may be lost on several such devices due to a critical digital certificate reportedly expiring. The certificate is important in verifying secure internet connections.
After the expiry of the particular certificate on September 30, users of some devices will be unable to download and install new certificate updates which will be required on these older devices for continued internet accessibility.
This means that the people who own the devices that may no longer have the required digital certificate will not be able to avail facilities like checking emails, browsing common websites or watching movies and TV shows on OTT services like Netflix.
What is the digital certificate about to expire?
The digital certificate expiring, that may spell internet doomsday for lakhs of devices, is called IdentTrust DST Root CA X3. This certificate enables internet users to securely log on to websites that begin with HTTPS. It encrypts connections between devices and the internet. The IdentTrust DST Root CA X3 certificate was created by a non-profit called Let’s Encrypt.
It is set to expire on Thursday, September 30, 2021, which means the certificate will not be considered trustworthy by devices.
Which devices will be impacted?
As reported by a leading technology news website, devices that can lose internet connectivity are older generation products like MacBooks on older versions of macOS 2016, Windows XP laptops, iPhones that are not on iOS 10 or above, older gaming consoles like PlayStation 3 and Nintendo 3DS, earlier Smart TVs and set-top boxes. PlayStations 4 which haven’t received new firmware upgrade may also be affected.
However, most devices are expected to continue without any impact of the digital certificate’s expiry.
The impact, as noted, could be similar to the May outages at companies like Red Hat, Stripe and Roku upon the expiration of the AddTrust External CA Root certificate.
What users who face issues can do?
Users will simply need to install the related updates. To work around the certificate expiry, Android users with Nougat 7.1.1 can install and use FireFox browser which has its own list of trusted root certificates.
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