New Delhi: Millions of old devices like old Macs, iPhones, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo 3DS gaming consoles, an unknown number of smart TVs, set-top boxes, and other “smart” devices, and even some PlayStation 4s are likely to be deprived of Internet connectivity on Thursday (September 30).
As per reports, the internet blackout is likely to occur as a crucial digital certificate expires used to verify secure internet connections on September 30.
And, the expiry of this digital certificate means that a person would not be able to install updates of newer certificates allowing access to the internet on their older devices
From watching Netflix to checking your email to reading regular websites, people won’t be able to do anything that requires an internet connection on their old devices as a result of this expiry.
Here’s all you need to know about the certificate expiration
On September 30, 2021, a digital certificate named IdentTrust DST Root CA X3 certificate will expire. Every time a user visits a website starting with HTTPS, they are able to do so securely due to the presence of this certificate.
This certificate is provided by Let’s Encrypt, a non-profit organization, that encrypts the connections between your devices and the Internet in general, ensuring that no one can intercept and steal your data in transit.
However, from Sep 30 onwards, devices will not trust certificates issued by this authority.
Devices to be largely affected
The smart devices that are large to be affected by this certificate expiration are older MacBooks, iPhones, and PlayStation 3 consoles.
In particular, iPhone users with operating systems prior to iOS 10 may face issues, along with devices running older versions of macOS 2016 and Windows XP.
Older smart TVs and set-top boxes and Nintendo 3DS could also be affected by the certificate expiry. Older PlayStations 4 that have not been upgraded to a newer firmware could also face issues.
According to TechCrunch, Let’s Encrypt certificate expiration won’t have any consequences for the majority of internet users in the world.
A report by the media site stated, “For the overwhelming majority of website users, there is nothing to worry about and September 30 will be business as usual.
Older devices, however, could run into some trouble, much like they did when the AddTrust External CA Root expired back in May. Stripe, Red Hat, and Roku all suffered outages as a result.”
What can you do to resolve the issue?
In case your device is old and a victim of the internet blackout, the most simple thing users need to do is make the corresponding updates. For, people using Android (Nougat) 7.1.1 are advised to install Firefox to get around the expiry.
“For an Android phone’s built-in browser, the list of trusted root certificates comes from the operating system — which is out of date on these older phones,” Let’s Encrypt said. “However, Firefox is currently unique among browsers — it ships with its own list of trusted root certificates.”
Let’s Encrypt, which as of early September issued more than two billion certificates since it was founded in 2014, told TechCrunch that users should look at how many clients are using affected versions of OpenSSL and years-old operating systems.
Its advice for those who can’t upgrade is to “look into whether serving a certificate chain with our new cross-sign makes sense.”
