IT Question.

[Rossm]

I have the BBC as the home page on my browser (Brave). For the past few days I have been unable to connect but everything else is fine. I get the following message:

"Your connection is not private
Attackers might be trying to steal your information from www.bbc.co.uk (for example, passwords, messages, or credit cards). Learn more
NET::ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID"

I find it irritating and it is surely totally unnecessary. Apart from not trying to connect to the BBC, can anyone suggest what I can do about it?

[Heathen]

https://www.troubleshootingcentral.com/how-to-fix-the-net-err_cert_common_name_invalid-google-chrome-error/

[Rossm]

Thanks, Heathen. Unfortunately, I'm still getting the error message and can't connect to the BBC.

[Neils]

Thanks, Heathen. Unfortunately, I'm still getting the error message and can't connect to the BBC.

But surely that is a bonus!

[Heathen]

Thanks, Heathen. Unfortunately, I'm still getting the error message and can't connect to the BBC.

Have you tried another option? I have Firefox and Safari on my Macbook. There are certain things that I cannot run on Firefox that will run on Safari. Microsoft Teams is one example.

[Rossm]

Thanks, Heathen. Unfortunately, I'm still getting the error message and can't connect to the BBC.

Have you tried another option? I have Firefox and Safari on my Macbook. There are certain things that I cannot run on Firefox that will run on Safari. Microsoft Teams is one example.

I've already tried Firefox and the same thing happens.

[wasps]

Hmmm
That's the message I'd expect if you were actually being directed to something that wasn't BBC.co.uk


A couple of things to try:


Try searching Google/bing/other for BBC and BBC sport or BBC news.
See if the links from a search engine work any better...


Also try pinging BBC.co.uk
Open a command prompt and type ping BBB.co.uk[\b]
Let us know the returned IP address
It's really unlikely, but if you are somehow getting redirected somewhere else, we should be able to tell from the IP address.




Assuming there's nothing nefarious going on, then it would suggest something is a bit funny with the certificate you're receiving from the BBC site.
I'm not sure if the exact location in Brave, but near the address bar somewhere, you should have an option to view the certificate.
It's normally where the padlock icon is shown.
(MS Edge has a link where it says "connection is secure" that will then allow the certificate to be shown)
If you can get to the certificate, you want to see who it was issued to, by, and the valid date range.




That info may provide some clues

[RogerE]

Brave uses the same "engine" as Firefox, and I sometimes get this on bbc.co.uk. It usually goes through after 2 or 3 retries.

Firefox is very particular about the SSL certificates that sites use to show they are safe (https: rather than http:)

The problem is that the SSL certificate that BBC are using has something wrong with it (might have an invalid date, or one with the "wrong" format, or even something as simple as a spelling mistake).

I have reported this before to both the BBC and the Mozilla organisation.

[Bloke in North Dorset]

Some random thoughts:

Is your antivirus software up to date?

Have you tried cleaning out the cache?

Are you running the latest version of Brave? Are you running the latest version of your OS? I say this because every time my wife calls tech support (aka me) the first thing I do is close the 1001 Apps she has open and then update them all and the OS, often she’s a couple of versions behind. 

[Rossm]

Some random thoughts:

Is your antivirus software up to date?

Have you tried cleaning out the cache?

Are you running the latest version of Brave? Are you running the latest version of your OS? I say this because every time my wife calls tech support (aka me) the first thing I do is close the 1001 Apps she has open and then update them all and the OS, often she’s a couple of versions behind.

AV latest.

Cache cleaned recently - within the last week.

Latest version of Brave and Windows 10.

[Rossm]

Hmmm
That's the message I'd expect if you were actually being directed to something that wasn't BBC.co.uk

A couple of things to try:

Try searching Google/bing/other for BBC and BBC sport or BBC news.
See if the links from a search engine work any better...

Tried google link to BBC news. Got a different error message: This site can’t be reached www.bbc.co.uk refused to connect.
Checking the connection
Checking the proxy and the firewall
ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED

Also try pinging BBC.co.uk
Open a command prompt and type ping BBB.co.uk[\b]
Let us know the returned IP address

Tried as above but editing to bbc.co.uk and got this: C:\Users\Ross>ping bbc.co.uk[\b]
'ping' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
Tried pinging bbc.co.uk and got the following response: Pinging bbc.co.uk [54.242.237.204] with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 54.242.237.204:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),


It's really unlikely, but if you are somehow getting redirected somewhere else, we should be able to tell from the IP address.
Assuming there's nothing nefarious going on, then it would suggest something is a bit funny with the certificate you're receiving from the BBC site.
I'm not sure if the exact location in Brave, but near the address bar somewhere, you should have an option to view the certificate.
It's normally where the padlock icon is shown.
(MS Edge has a link where it says "connection is secure" that will then allow the certificate to be shown)
If you can get to the certificate, you want to see who it was issued to, by, and the valid date range.

That info may provide some clues

It's getting late and I'm getting a bit tired so I'll have a go at the certificate tomorrow. Thanks for all your suggestions.

[Rossm]

Thanks for all the help. Problem now solved.

[Heathen]

Thanks for all the help. Problem now solved.

Good. Did you find what was causing the problem?

[Rossm]

Thanks for all the help. Problem now solved.

Good. Did you find what was causing the problem?

Probably something to do with DNS.