Google Forgets to Renew Gmail's SMTP SSL Certificate

Google's SMTP server, smtp.gmail.com, has just expired a couple minutes ago. Here is the SSL certificate expiration notice:

It appears Google has forgotten to renew the certificate, even thought a Google Groups post had a warning to Google that it would be expiring today:

Is Google planning on updating the certificate for smtp.gmail.com port 465? I noticed that it's expiring today which could cause a lot of issues with email clients sending email today and tomorrow.

This is not the first time Google forgot to renew their certificates. They forgot to renew the AdWords conversion tracking certificate in the past as well.

Stuff like this happens. Google seems to be secure but they just forgot to renew the certificate.

Forum discussion at Google Groups.

Update: A Google spokesperson told us:

For a short time this morning, some Gmail users sending mail via POP and IMAP saw a notification on their mail clients that the SMTP certificate had expired. We identified the problem and fixed it promptly. We know how important Gmail is for our users, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

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posted rustybrick in Other Google Topics at July 29, 2008 1:14 PM Comments (7)

Comments

what a blunder. they cant be that stupid. but it supports my usage of the nickname: "Google W. Bush"

Posted by Marc at July 29, 2008 13:23

Yup...it sure did. I just got the error myself. Depending on the client you use, it may still let you send and recieve though. I use Thunderbird, and it seems to be working fine, as soon as I ignore the error.

Posted by aNOMALy at July 29, 2008 14:13

This is ridiculous that a company like Google has allowed this to expire. They seem to be dismissive about these types of issues and
hide behind the "Beta" designation of their software. If they want to be world-class SAAS provider, they can't have these things happen. I continuously have issues with Outlook "timing" out on the IMAP connection to Google Apps mail, or not being able to access my web-based email because of a "temporary error". I've had calendar and chat issues as well.

For an organization that prides itself on talent, Google certainly
isn't showcasing it on the customer facing applications.

Posted by Greg Mayer at July 29, 2008 14:32

Ho hum... Can we all cip in a couple of quid to buy them a license? This is not funny.

Posted by Robertv at July 29, 2008 15:00

Hell, I've hit Microsoft sites with expired certificates... big f'n deal... sh*t happens.

Posted by Anon Y Mous at July 29, 2008 15:41

I wrote up a quick guide on how to fix this for Mac folks using Apple's Mail.app. You can find it here: http://blog.arcsource.com/?p=85

Hope it's helpful!

Posted by Aaron at July 29, 2008 16:46

http://digg.com/tech_news/Google_Forgets_to_Renew_Gmail_s_SMTP_SSL_Certificate

Posted by Matt Shadbolt at July 29, 2008 19:28

Google Forgets to Renew Gmail's SMTP SSL Certificate

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