It's the end of a world.
From this Thursday, 4:01 p.m. sharp, Internet connections will no longer lead to devices sold before 2017 and which have not made updates or can no longer receive them.
No question of planned obsolescence here.
Hundreds of thousands of devices are simply affected by the consequences of the expiration of an obscure digital security certificate.
“I don't know how many devices depend on it, but I know that something, somewhere is going to break,” prophesies British cybersecurity researcher Scott Helme in a post on his blog spotted by Phonandroid.
At the end of its life after 20 years of service, there is a problem with the IdentTrust DST Root CA X3 “root” certificate.
Under this cryptic name hides a digital validation of another certificate, ISRG Root X1, which allows access to the Internet in an encrypted and therefore secure manner, and recognized by servers and browsers.
The fate of old smartphones sealed
Potentially Internet-deprived devices cover a wide spectrum of computers, video game consoles or smartphones over 4 years old.
Most are already pretty tired, but you might be counting on them if newer devices crash.
There are all PCs running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (2004) such as Macs with a version prior to macOS 10.12.1 (2016).
For smartphones, models with versions of Android older than Nougat 7.1.1 of 2016 and iPhones below iOS 10, released in September 2016. iPhone 5 being the last model capable of installing iOS 10, your collector's iPhone 4 could well experience the announced “blackout”.
Please note that old PS4s which have not had their firmware updated since 5.00 will also be disconnected.
If you absolutely must connect from one of these devices, there are two practical solutions.
The easiest way is to update before Thursday, the other being to use the Firefox browser, which issues its own certificates, to continue surfing after the fateful date.
