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

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!

Answer 3

If you are using a school/college wifi, most probably someone has your credentials and he/she is using it at the same time as you so basically when he/she is using the web you'll get this message, you should probably change your password or switch on VPN.

Answer 4

If the WiFi/other network used to access the website in question is a school or public network, some 3rd-party software used by it's administrator might be trying to prevent or override the connection to your website.

That might happen in order to display an error message (e.g. "Website access prohibited"), a captive portal (network login window), or just to watch the data being sent around.

Since you're using HTTPS it was prevented when the certificate check failed, because with HTTPS in place that software has no way of presenting it's own page or eavesdropping, other than creating it's own certificate with your website name in it on the fly. Which, of course, was rejected by the browser, since either the user didn't expect it, or, if it's indeed a school/company network, the PC wasn't properly enrolled for use on the said network.

Either way, there is no problem with your webpage itself. Because Github manages the server for your Pages, chances you could create something causing that problem yourself are pretty much zero.

Answer 5

Sometimes it happens because of the wrong IP/DNS settings. Checking the below places might help resolve the issue:

1. Make sure you are using a common public DNS server. How to check the DNS server you are using depends on your operating system. Moreover, if you are using a VPN client and it has a DNS configuration, check that setting too.

2. Check if there is an IP address associated with GitHub in the system's hosts file. In Linux and macOS you may use sudo vi /etc/hosts. If there is one, turn that line into a comment by adding # at the beginning of the line. Save, exit, and check if you see that error again. Do step 3 only if you are still getting the same error.

3. Go to https://www.ipaddress.com, search for github.io, and add its IP address at the bottom of /etc/hosts file like this example: 140.82.114.4 github.io.

Hope this helps.