Getting unauthorized certificate warning for *.google-analytics.com out of nowhere

[John Galt III]

Hi, This started last week, and hasn't gone away. Whenever I go to certain websites, not all, I get the annoying warning 'unable to verify the identity of *.google-analytics.com. Clicking from one screen to another inside the website makes the same warning pop up again. For now, I am clicking the button to NOT accept the certificate, since the warning says it may be malware. I also get the same kind of warning for 'upload.video.google'. Even though I haven't been doing anything with videos. Also, I haven't ever requested any google analytics ever. What can I do to get rid of this constant nagging? Should I just click on 'accept certificate' ? I'm afraid it's malware, or tracking of some sort, neither of which I want. Thanks

 

[cathy63]

It sounds like something is wrong in the local certificate data store that your browser is using.

First, make sure that the date on your computer is correct, especially the year.

Second, install a different browser and see if the problem goes away. If it does, then make sure your preferred browser is up-to-date. You may have to uninstall and reinstall it if part of its installation has gotten corrupted.

If the problem occurs in two different browsers, then I suggest shutting down and rebooting your modem, router and computer, just in case there's some weird DNS or networking issue. If the computer in question is a laptop, you can also try taking it to a library or coffee shop with WiFi and see if the problem occurs when not on your own network.

After that, look for updates for your operating system and install those.

If you've done all that and are still having the problem, tell us more about what operating system you are using and what browsers you have tried.

 

[jim584672]

You could try to change the DNS server in Firefox. Options, search for DNS, Settings, go to bottom and see Cloudflare (default), which you can change.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Hi, This started last week, and hasn't gone away. Whenever I go to certain websites, not all, I get the annoying warning 'unable to verify the identity of *.google-analytics.com. Clicking from one screen to another inside the website makes the same warning pop up again. For now, I am clicking the button to NOT accept the certificate, since the warning says it may be malware. I also get the same kind of warning for 'upload.video.google'. Even though I haven't been doing anything with videos. Also, I haven't ever requested any google analytics ever. What can I do to get rid of this constant nagging? Should I just click on 'accept certificate' ? I'm afraid it's malware, or tracking of some sort, neither of which I want. Thanks

On how many websites does this happen? One? Only on a couple?

I think what is happening is the website you are visiting has started to set up Google Analytics but has not registered their domain with Google Analytics. This means that Google cannot determine the owner of the website in order to "crawl" it and start recording the number of visitors, length of stay, referrers, etc.

So whenever anyone goes to this website Google wants to record that person's visit but the website hasn't been set up properly to have Google record the visitor's metrics. This generates the error code.

At least I think this is what is happening.

 

[John Galt III]

Thanks for the replies. What about this for a quick easy solution? I just 'accept permanently' the certificates. Will that be risking some malware intrusion?

 

[cathy63]

Thanks for the replies. What about this for a quick easy solution? I just 'accept permanently' the certificates. Will that be risking some malware intrusion?

Maybe. We don't have enough information to answer that unless you tell us which website(s) you are having difficulty with and whether the problem affects one or multiple sites.

 

[jim584672]

Is the clock on the computer set at the right date? Sometimes a bad date will cause a cert to appear to be out of date and invalid.

 

[John Galt III]

Is the clock on the computer set at the right date? Sometimes a bad date will cause a cert to appear to be out of date and invalid.

The date at the lower right of the screen is right. Aug 15, 2021.