Trust in 911 Information Provider Undermined by Expired Certificate

Smart911 SSL Credential Expired

The local town of North Hempstead NY has campaigned over the past year to have its citizens register with a commercial service, Smart911. Smart911 connects additional personal information about households with local 911 services so that alternate means of communication, identification and other services can be enabled. During Superstorm Sandy, the need for a service like this was clearer -- even though some will choose to keep such information personal.

Unfortunately, using the service this week resulted in the standard expired SSL certificate warning -- which less browser-savvy users (as well as OWASP users) will interpret as meaning the site is not safe. This is unfortunate given the sort of service involved, and the amount of personal information requested by the contractor.