Keeping your Mac secure: Certificate Status

Techtool Pro 18 introduces the Security Check tool, which reviews a number of potential security vulnerabilities on your Mac. This article covers how to keep your Mac more secure for the Certificate Status check.

Modern web browsers utilize https to connect to websites securely. On occasion, if a site has an expired certificate, or it still only using http, your browser may prompt you change trust settings in order to visit the site. In this scenario, information passing between your computer and the website’s server may be intercepted.

The Security Check tool will flag your Certificate status if any sites’ trust settings have been overridden. To restore trust settings to their defaults, you will first want to open Keychain Access in /Applications/Utilities. In the Keychain Access application, select Certificates in your login keychain, and look for any certificates that have a blue and white plus icon next to them. Double click the certificate, and then click the disclosure arrow next to Trust in the certificate’s settings window. Set “Use System Defaults” for the “When using this certificate” setting. Repeat this process for any other certificates marked with the blue and white plus icon.

Once all sites’ certificates are properly configured, website visits will be more secure.

For more information on Certificate Trust settings, visit Apple’s Knowledge Base article.