SOLVED: Safari Can’t Verify the Identity of the Website Error Message
When browsing the internet on Safari, if you visit a website that has an invalid certificate or a website that Safari believes to be misidentifying itself and poses harm to you, you are going to receive an error message that states the following:
“Safari can’t verify the identity of the website [Website URL here].
The certificate for this website is invalid. You might be connecting to a website that is pretending to be [Website URL here], which could put your confidential information at risk. Would you like to connect to the website anyway?”
When you come face to face with an error message such as this one, the first thing you need to do is click on Show Certificate and make sure that everything with the website you are trying to access is in order, meaning whether or not the domain you are trying to visit is valid and can be trusted. Why is that so? Well, this error message can be produced out of either a valid security threat or an error on the part of Safari, and if it’s the former, you are going to regret not clicking on Show Certificate and checking the website’s credentials.
On the other hand, if you are seeing this error message while you are trying to access to a completely trustworthy website – such as your email client, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or the IMDB website, you have a slight issue on your hands. Thankfully, this problem is completely fixable, and the following are some of the most effective methods that you can use to try and get rid of this error message if you are receiving it out of a Safari issue and not a valid security threat:
Method 1: Update Safari to the latest version
Using an outdated version of an application is never a good idea, especially when the application in question is an internet browser as newer versions of internet browsers contain a ton of bug fixes and resolutions to issues present on previous builds. Since that is the case, your first choice when it comes to trying and fixing this problem should be to update Safari to the latest available version. In order to do so, you are going to need to:
Open the Apple Menu and choose App Store.
From App Store Click on Updates and choose Update All.
Method 2: Make sure that your Mac’s date and time are correct
While this may not seem extremely plausible, Safari can start throwing the “Safari can’t verify the identity of the website” error message at you quite often if your Mac’s date and time settings are off, even if they’re off by a small margin. To make sure that incorrect date and time are not causing this issue for you, simply ensure that your Mac’s date and time are accurate.
First and foremost, make sure that your Mac is connected to the internet so that it can retrieve accurate date and time information from the World Wide Web.
If Safari is open, close it.
Open the Apple Menu.
Click on System Preferences.
Select Date & Time
Check the checkbox beside Set date and time automatically. If the checkbox is already checked, uncheck it, wait for 30 seconds and then recheck it. If you are unable to make the changes, click the lock icon located on the lower right corner.
Save your changes.
Launch Safari and check to see whether or not the problem still persists.
Method 3: Repair your user account’s Keychain (OS X 10.11.1 or earlier)
Last, but certainly not the least, the most effective method that users affected by this issue in the past have used to overcome it is to repair the certificates contained in their active user account’s keychain. Repairing your user account’s Keychain can be the answer to a variety of different problems, including this one. However, unfortunately, Apple removed has removed Keychain First Aid as of OS X version 10.11.2, so you will only be able to apply this solution if you are using an older version of the Operating System. In order to repair your user account’s Keychain, you need to:
If Safari is open, close it.
Hold down the Command button, and while doing so, press the Spacebar. This will launch the Spotlight search utility.
Type “Keychain Access” into the utility and press Return. This will launch the Keychain Access
Navigate to the Keychain Access menu and click on Keychain First Aid in the menu.
Type in the password for the user account you are currently logged into, click on Verify and then click on Start.
Once that’s done, click on Repair and then click on Start
Close Keychain First Aid.
Launch Safari and check to see whether or not the issue has been fixed.
