Certificate Errors Troubleshooting: Likely Causes and Solutions

Possible Causes of Untrusted Certificate Errors

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Question

A help desk is troubleshooting user reports that the corporate website is presenting untrusted certificate errors to employees and customers when they visit the website.

Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of this error, provided the certificate has not expired?

Answers

Explanations

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A. B. C. D.

B.

The most likely cause of untrusted certificate errors on the corporate website, provided that the certificate has not expired, is that the certificate was self-signed, and the Certificate Authority (CA) was not imported by employees or customers.

When a website is accessed over HTTPS, the browser checks the authenticity of the SSL/TLS certificate presented by the website. The certificate is issued by a trusted CA that the browser recognizes. If the certificate is self-signed or the CA is not recognized by the browser, then the browser will present an error message indicating that the certificate is untrusted.

In this scenario, it is likely that the corporate website's SSL/TLS certificate was self-signed, meaning that it was not issued by a trusted CA. This can happen when an organization generates its own certificate instead of obtaining one from a trusted CA. Without a trusted CA, the certificate cannot be validated by the browser, leading to an untrusted certificate error.

Additionally, even if the certificate was issued by a trusted CA, it is possible that the CA was not imported by employees or customers. This means that their browsers will not recognize the CA and will therefore not trust the website's certificate.

Option B, which suggests that the root CA has revoked the certificate of the intermediate CA, is not a likely cause of the error. This would result in a different error message, such as "certificate revoked."

Option C, which suggests that the valid period for the certificate has passed, and a new certificate has not been issued, is not applicable to this scenario since it was stated in the question that the certificate has not expired.

Option D, which suggests that the key escrow server has blocked the certificate from being validated, is not a likely cause of the error. A key escrow server is used for storing and managing cryptographic keys and is not directly involved in the validation of SSL/TLS certificates.

In summary, the most likely cause of untrusted certificate errors on the corporate website is that the certificate was self-signed, and the CA was not imported by employees or customers.