Security News > 2020 > November > Let's Encrypt warns about a third of Android devices will from next year stumble over sites that use its certs

Let's Encrypt, a Certificate Authority that puts the "S" in "HTTPS" for about 220m domains, has issued a warning to users of older Android devices that their web surfing may get choppy next year.

Next year, on September 1, 2021, the DST Root X3 certificate that Let's Encrypt initially relied for cross-signing will expire and devices that haven't been updated in the past four years to trust the X1 root certificate may find they're unable to connect to websites securely, not without throwing up error messages, at least.

One meaningful thing that affected Android users can do is use Firefox, which comes with its own list of trusted root certificates and thus should recognize the ISRG Root X1 certificate.

Those who get Let's Encrypt certs from their hosting provider are advised to get in touch with the provider if there are issues with the root certificate being presented.

At the end of December, a spokesperson for Let's Encrypt got in touch to say the project had, with respect to older Android gear, "Developed a new certificate chain that will prevent incompatibility with these devices to allow more time for them to age out of the market."

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2020/11/06/android_encryption_certs/