Oops... Tim Callan's Verisign blog is having issues with EV certificateS...

But, to be fair, his blog is not the only Verisign page that is missing the green address bar when it ought not...

Let's visit Tim's blog at https://blogs.verisign.com/ssl-blog/.  Check this out.

We load the URL - we see an alert about "secure and nonsecure items".  When we see this error it generally means that the page in question, an HTTPS page, includes content that is being pulled from an HTTP (no S) address:

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If we click "Yes", we see this - no green bar:

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If we click "No" we see this - a green bar:

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I first blogged about this interesting phenomenon back in February 2007 - a year ago.  Methinks I need to get in direct touch with Tim and let him know about what I am seeing.  We've corresponded in the past, so I should have his address here somewhere....

BTW, Firefox Beta 3 introduces green address bar support for EV certificates without the need for an add-on:

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Unless you are viewing a Verisign site, that is...

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Interestingly, if you go to a different site, then use the back button to return to Verisign, the EV works...

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Refresh the page, and the green bar will disappear.

As we know, EV certificates are not cheap, and it is important for Web site designers and site owners to bear in mind that if they are going to pay good money for, and go through all the rigmarole that must be endured to win an EV, then they must make sure that they are not going to inadvertantly break the green address bar.

Published Sat, Feb 23 2008 23:36 by sandi
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Comments

# re: Oops... Tim Callan's Verisign blog is having issues with EV certificateS...

Saturday, February 23, 2008 5:27 PM by karen snyder

Hi, I work on Tim's blog, this was my fault.  I added some code to his blog templates to try to add tracking from Feedburner.  I think that was the "non-https" item that was being called that caused the warning message you saw.

I removed the tracking code and I don't see the warning message any more.  I think it is fixed now.  

Would you mind adding a post that this has been fixed on Tim's blog? I'd hate for his SSL Guru status to be tarnished because of my mistake : - (

Thanks!

~K

# re: Oops... Tim Callan's Verisign blog is having issues with EV certificateS...

Saturday, February 23, 2008 8:34 PM by sandi

Hi Karen,

Sorry, but the problem is still there.   If we continue this train of thought, perhaps the issue is related to the Google Analytics code.

I have also seen this error when logging into GMAIL. It is triggered by the "Sign Up For Gmail" area below the login fields when it uses a button instead of hyperlinks.

I note that Google Checkout is also affected:

groups.google.com/.../b0f83bbee904b8c4

Google's advice, to use a different Web browser (which doesn't help with this particular issue, btw - we already know that FF B3 is affected) or to reduce a web browser's security settings, is simply unacceptable - ESPECIALLY the latter advice.