How to fix "Your connection is not private"

Chrome shows "Your connection is not private" (Edge says "Your connection isn't private", Firefox says "Warning: Potential Security Risk Ahead") when a website's security certificate can't be trusted. The certificate is what proves you're talking to the real site and that the connection is encrypted.

The code under the message tells you why. The most common are NET::ERR_CERT_DATE_INVALID (expired, or your clock is wrong), NET::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID (issued by an authority your browser doesn't trust) and NET::ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID (issued for a different address).

Should I click "Proceed anyway"?

Not on any site where you log in, pay or enter personal details. The warning exists because someone could be intercepting the connection. If it's a site you use every day and it suddenly shows this warning, assume something is wrong until you've tried the fixes below.

Fixes on your device

1. Check your date and time. A wrong clock makes valid certificates look expired. Turn on automatic date and time, then reload.
2. Avoid public Wi-Fi login pages. Hotel, café and airport Wi-Fi often intercept the first page you open. Open http://neverssl.com to get the Wi-Fi sign-in page, sign in, then try again.
3. Try a private window and clear cached data for the site.
4. Turn off HTTPS scanning in your antivirus, or pause it briefly to test. Some security tools replace certificates with their own.
5. Update your browser and operating system, which updates the list of trusted certificate authorities.
6. Try another network. If the warning disappears on mobile data, something on your original network is interfering.

Is the website broken?

If the warning appears on every device and network, the website's certificate has probably expired or been set up wrongly, and only the owner can fix it. Our website checker shows whether the site is responding at all.

If you own the website

Renew or reinstall your certificate, include the full certificate chain, and make sure it covers every name visitors use (both example.com and www.example.com). Free certificates from Let's Encrypt renew automatically when set up with a client such as Certbot.