Connection not secure error

by Shadar 22nd May 2018, 06:38

Technical Details

Forum version : #ModernBB
Position : Founder
Concerned browser(s) : Google Chrome
Who the problem concerns : All members
When the problem appeared : 5/21/2018
Forum link : http://collaborate.accessimco.com

Description of problem

When using Chrome, I and others on my forum cannot access the forum anymore. We get a "Connection is not secure" page from chrome. Microsoft Edge and other browsers seem to let us connect still.

I believe this is an HTTPS / SSL security issue.

If this is the case, how can I configure SSL when using my private domain name? I can install an SSL certificate for collaborate.accessimco.com, but I don't know how to put the SSL code on the forum?

Please help as most of our users use google chrome.

by **SLGray** 22nd May 2018, 06:41

Did you purchase the domain name through Forumotion? If no, you can not use the SSL certificate option in the administration panel. It is only usable with the domain names through Forumotion and on forums without domain names.

by Shadar 23rd May 2018, 03:25

SLGray wrote:Did you purchase the domain name through Forumotion? If no, you can not use the SSL certificate option in the administration panel. It is only usable with the domain names through Forumotion and on forums without domain names.

No, we have an existing domain that we made the forum a subdomain on.

If there is no way to use SSL in this circumstance it's a huge issue as Google Chrome is now blocking access to the site because of it. Chrome is the browser the majority of our users use, so this basically makes your forums unusable for most of our users.

by **SLGray** 23rd May 2018, 07:34

https://help.forumotion.com/t150650-ssl-certificate-guide-for-a-success-forum-migration-to-https#1038838

Forumotion wrote:IMPORTANT NOTICE: The SSL certificate option is availabke of every Forumotion forums with or without personalized domain name acquired by Forumotion service. It's not possible to install an SSL certificate on a forum with an external domain name (CNAME) because we do not have control on external domain names.

by Shadar 23rd May 2018, 07:40

SLGray wrote:https://help.forumotion.com/t150650-ssl-certificate-guide-for-a-success-forum-migration-to-https#1038838

Forumotion wrote:IMPORTANT NOTICE: The SSL certificate option is availabke of every Forumotion forums with or without personalized domain name acquired by Forumotion service. It's not possible to install an SSL certificate on a forum with an external domain name (CNAME) because we do not have control on external domain names.

So basically your forums are unusable by Chrome Web Browser from now on if using external domain names? We just spent money upgrading to your highest tier to remove ads/etc as we planned to use your forums long term... but if this is the case we'll have to move to another forum as Chrome is too heavily used to not support it.

I have full access to my domain... I even have an SSL key ready for this forum... but there is no way to make it work is what you're telling me?

by **SLGray** 23rd May 2018, 07:43

You can ask the domain name provider if you can add a SSL certificate to your domain name. Forumotion can not offer you a SSL certificate because of the external domain name. If you had purchased it through Forumotion, you would have had access to the SSL certificate option in your AP.

by Shadar 23rd May 2018, 07:52

SLGray wrote:You can ask the domain name provider if you can add a SSL certificate to your domain name. Forumotion can not offer you a SSL certificate because of the external domain name. If you had purchased it through Forumotion, you would have had access to the SSL certificate option in your AP.

I have an SSL certificate as I just said.... what I need to know is how to install it on my Forum? I need to put my certificate, private key, or CA bundle on the forums.

I cannot buy a domain from you when I already own the domain I wish to use... so buying from you wasn't an option.

by **brandon_g** 23rd May 2018, 12:38

You can't install a ceritificate on a domain not bought through us. In order to do so would require access to the database, which only Forumotion has (access to it is never given to it). We also can also install certificates on domains we control.

We also can not give access to the database out for security reasons more then anything.

Sorry, but such isn't possible to do. Sad

Edit: Is this your forum: http://imco.forumotion.com ? If so, I am able to access it just fine from chrome (both mobile and pc version):

modernbb - Connection not secure error Screen18

modernbb - Connection not secure error Receiv10

It seems to me your site is accessible from Google Chrome. Maybe the users having issues, are having the issues from their chrome.

-Brandon

by **Ape** 23rd May 2018, 15:37

Just to help out here.

You paid for an upgrade on your forum with us using our package system, Now This package you paid for was installed 100% on your forum.

Sadly the SSL certificate Is ready to be installed on your basic Forum address only as you got your domain address outside of our host.
FM has made the point of telling our members of this before the pack's went out

IMPORTANT NOTICE: The SSL certificate option is available of every Forumotion forums with or without personalized domain name acquired by Forumotion service.
It's not possible to install an SSL certificate on a forum with an external domain name (CNAME) because we do not have control on external domain names.

As already pointed out by others above If you want a SSL certificate This will have to be done by your Domain provider Not us at Forumotion.

Sadly we can not offer you any money back for the SSL certificate as this comes in with the pack you paid for .

by jucarese 23rd May 2018, 20:50

the entrance to your forum through chrome does not give problems for me

modernbb - Connection not secure error Screen41

That you have a SSL certificate does not guarantee that your browser put the Not secure poster
any link to an image hosted on a server that other than HTTPS, for example, Makes your forum appear as Not secure.

by Shadar 24th May 2018, 01:43

The issue isn't with the address imco.forumotion.com, it's with collaborate.accessimco.com which is the address we are using.

Chrome will not let you go from an https:// domain to a subdomain that isn't https:// any longer it seems. It was working until this past Sunday when Chrome apparently cracked down on such things.

by **Ape** 24th May 2018, 01:49

Sadly we can't do anything to help you as we don't have anything to do with Chrome You will have to Email Google Chrome to work around this.

As your site has a domain name outside of our systems we have no power over your forum other then the hosting of your forum settings.

Even if you moved from this host to some one else you will still have the same problem.

Trust me it's your address that is the problem Not your forum it's self

We can't help you on your address as we don't have power over it.

by Shadar 24th May 2018, 04:03

APE wrote:Sadly we can't do anything to help you as we don't have anything to do with Chrome You will have to Email Google Chrome to work around this.

As your site has a domain name outside of our systems we have no power over your forum other then the hosting of your forum settings.

Even if you moved from this host to some one else you will still have the same problem.

Trust me it's your address that is the problem Not your forum it's self

We can't help you on your address as we don't have power over it.

Email Google Chrome? Come on... you know that's not something anyone can do.

Chrome is enforcing higher security standards across the web which requires websites to up their game when it comes to SSL. We have done that on our server, but we are unable to put SSL on the collaborate.accessimco.com subdomain because we don't own the server (you do) and thus we can't install the SSL certificate, you own it and have said you cannot do it. I would have paid you for a domain name... except we already owned the domain we needed to use... so we couldn't pay you for a domain that we already had.

It looks like to use your forums we have to use a domain that isn't our own or we have to leave you for another service. That's unfortunate.

by **brandon_g** 24th May 2018, 04:05

Your site loads fine on chrome. See our screenshots above.

What do you mean by them not loading?

by Shadar 24th May 2018, 04:06

brandon_g wrote:Your site loads fine on chrome. See our screenshots above.

What do you mean by them not loading?

Please re-read my messages, I've made it very clear what I mean.

Go to collaborate.accessimco.com this loads for you? It loaded just fine before Sunday when Chrome changed its security approach apparently.

by **brandon_g** 24th May 2018, 04:10

That domain re directs to your free forumotion domain http://imco.forumotion.com .

Which loads fine on chrome. I tested it on my phone, had a friend test it from his pc (since I dont use chrome on pc, I have firefox instead) and jucarese tested and it loaded without a problem or warning each and everytime.

by Shadar 24th May 2018, 04:13

brandon_g wrote:That domain re directs to your free forumotion domain http://imco.forumotion.com .

Which loads fine on chrome. I tested it on my phone, had a friend test it from his pc (since I dont use chrome on pc, I have firefox instead) and jucarese tested and it loaded without a problem or warning each and everytime.

10 different people working for and working with my company have all gone to collaborate.accessimco.com and it does not work for them, they all get a security page from chrome instead.

We've not been able to find a single person that it works for. You're the first to say it is working for them. Not sure how to explain this.

by Shadar 24th May 2018, 04:16

by **brandon_g** 24th May 2018, 04:19

It could be something maybe with the network you guys are using or something I don't know. All I know is it works fine on mobile version chrome, works fine on chrome for 2 separate people (my friend who had never been to the link ever before I asked him to go ahead and try it for me and Jucarese) and it worked for both. I would maybe try clearing the browser cache and cookies on those pcs and see if that helps, maybe even uninstall or and clean install them again.

Either way it seems to be an issue with the chrome or computers you guys are using or whatever. Cause it does indeed load with chrome still. Very Happy

P.s Google does have a support site for chrome as well I believe, try reaching out there for help.

by Shadar 24th May 2018, 04:20

I should note that I've also changed my DNS settings yesterday to "Forward" collaborate.accessimco.com instead of using a cname, and I'm not masking the forward.

I need this working in some form asap and I'm trying anything I can to get it working again. Even if the end result isn't optimal, which it appears means I have to use imco.forumotion.com, at least until I can figure out if we need to change services to one that allows external domains fully.

by Shadar 24th May 2018, 04:23

My guess is that anyone who is trying collaborate.accessimco.com today for the first time will see that it forwards to imco.forumotion.com.

That isn't the ideal solution, we want it to show as collaborate.accessimco.com, but that is what is blowing up in chrome. It worked fine for 3 or so months previously, it just started blowing up for our users and us on Sunday.

Thus my change to the DNS yesterday when it was clear SSL wasn't possible on these forums with an external domain. At least that appears to be working for new users, which is at least better than the security screen I posted a few minutes ago.

by **brandon_g** 24th May 2018, 04:25

The best thing you could probably do is have it re direct to the free domain name, you make the free domain name https and therefore solving your own problem. It may not be ideal, but it does work. Since all users now get redirected to the free domain name, it wont effect your seo either I dont think.

The reason we can not add ssl certificates to domain names we dont own is, even though we own the server and can change the coding server side, our server can not directly link the certificate to the domain, only the domain name owner can do that.

I think that work around should work for you though.

by Shadar 24th May 2018, 04:28

brandon_g wrote:The best thing you could probably do is have it re direct to the free domain name, you make the free domain name https and there in solve your own problem.

The reason we can not add ssl certificates to domain names we dont own is, even though we own the server and can change the coding server side, our server can not directly link the certificate to the domain, only the domain name owner can do that.

I think that work around should work for you though.

Using the imco.forumotion.com domain isn't ideal at all for our purposes. We'll have to decide if it's good enough or not. It may be.

I'm attempting to try forwarding with Masking enabled now to see if that works or not. Will probably take time for that change to propagate.

by **brandon_g** 24th May 2018, 04:38

You could try waiting a bit and then trying to re connect with the cname again. We have thousands of forums in the same situation as you, using cname to redirect to their forum (which doesnt have an ssl certificate either) and it works fine on every browser including chrome. I would maybe clear the cache on those pcs and try it again, worst comes to worst you can always forward it back to the free one again. My guess is somehow the cname re direction got messed up causing that message to occur, maybe re setting it back up from scratch will work.

P.s It's problems like that, is why I don't use Chrome on pc (only use it on my phone cause it cant be uninstalled) and use Firefox, cause chrome gets really temperamental sometimes.

Either way, unfortunately I don't think there is very much more we can do for you, even if we wanted to, cause like I said our system just can't put an ssl certificate on a domain name we don't own.

by **Ape** 24th May 2018, 16:05

OKay I have looked this up again online and with my Boss at my real job (Virgin)
After looking at this Yes Google Chrome has stopped a lot of sites with out the HTTPs address.

The problem is with external domain names when you take on a external domain you should always ask if you get a ssl certificate or not.

Most hosts should now offer the ssl certificate on your domain name.

As I have already said Sadly we can not help you on this any more then we have as it is a browser and domain name problem.

I understand you are not happy that you can not get a ssl certificate from us. sadly most free hosted forum are now doing the same thing including websites hosts.

Connection not secure error