Old Smart Tech Devices To Lost Internet Connection On Thursday

The connectivity on tech devices and smart gadgets bought before 2017 could face issues when connecting to the Internet on Thursday after a key digital certificate required to access websites safely expires.

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The organization Let's Encrypt, the largest issuer of digital certificates, will expire one of its most popular certificates, the IdentTrust DST Root CA X3, so tech devices that use it without updating their software could face connection problems. 

The problem will primarily affect popular devices, such as iPhones running iOS 9 and below, Android phones running below the 2.3.6 software, Windows computers running software before XP, SP3, PS3, PS4 Sony game consoles, and the Nintendo 3DS.

“Although it is not clear how big this problem will be, older smart devices that require Internet connectivity will certainly break,” cybersecurity expert Scott Helme told Yahoo News. One of the reasons such problems occur is tech companies’ planned obsolescence, which makes their devices stop working properly after a certain number of years.

“While some corporations have been proactive about educating customers about this problem, others companies, such as Apple, expect customers to figure it out on their own if issues start occurring on older devices,” Helme recalled.

Previously, the renewal of certificates has caused problems for equipment with older operating systems. On May 30, 2020, for instance, a certificate from the AddTrust firm expired, affecting the services of the Roku online television system and the online payment platforms Stripe and Spreedly.

There is no precedent for how to solve the problem besides updating the software on devices. Therefore, experts suggest installing system updates regularly.