GitHub page 'Your connection is not private'

Question

I have searched for this and found answers that do not work in my case. I would appreciate some thoughts on this

• I have set up a github page at: https://ir-ischool-uos.github.io/mwpd/
• Some users reported that when they visit the page, an error about security is displayed, like this on Chrome:

- However, many users say it works ok for them.

I have found some sources say that this only happens if your link contains 'https' instead of 'http', but tested on two computers, one mobile phone and one tablet they both work fine. I also found source that say I should use GitHub page's https support, and I checked my setting this already is ticked.

Is there anything I can do to fix this for every user? Thanks

Answer 1

This error could happen because of numerous of reasons. For example:

1. The server certificate (or at least one of the certificates in the chain of trust) is not among the trusted certificates that the browser/system maintains (maybe an outdated list?). Try to update the browser/system.
2. The date/time on the system is not configured correctly.
3. The connection is being intercepted (by an attacker?) and the certificate is manipulated, hence the SSL connection handshake process could not complete.

Answer 2

Let your users click on the red lock icon in the address bar, and compare the certificate information that is displayed to them with the certificate information that is displayed to you.

You should both see the same information. Should that not be the case, then that is the cause of the problem. It could be related to malware on the user‘s computer.

Answer 3

Your connection is not private error appears on websites using the SSL / HTTPs protocol when a browser is unable to validate the SSL certificate issued by the website.

Basically, any website using SSL / HTTPs protocol sends a security certificate information to users browsers upon each visit. Browsers then try to validate the certificate using the public key accompanying the certificate.

If it checks out, then users browser encrypts the data using the private key sent by your website. This encryption secures the data transfer between a user’s browser and your website.

I have checked it accross 3 different connections and they all worked just fine.

I believe the problem could be from the users. They may need to clear their cache, check if their clock is set correctly, their antivirus could be stopping it. And their browsers may be outdated.

What I will advice is just (https://support.github.com/contact). They could check to verify if this is an issue from the server or not.

But from what am looking at, this may be an issue with the user's device.

Also here are a few links you could refer and see if all settings on your own part are rightly set;

[1] https://github.com/docsifyjs/docsify/issues/236

[2] https://help.github.com/en/github/working-with-github-pages/securing-your-github-pages-site-with-https

[3] https://help.github.com/en/github/working-with-github-pages/troubleshooting-custom-domains-and-github-pages#https-errors

I hope this helps. Let me know!