| Chronology | Current Month | Current Thread | Current Date |
| [Year List] [Month List (current year)] | [Date Index] [Thread Index] | [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] | [Date Prev] [Date Next] |
The spreadsheet wont open and provides a warning notice.
this has been mentioned in the past.
The other day I wanted to send somebody some secure email.
I asked the guy's secretary if she had ever heard of electronic
signatures. Nope.
I asked if she had ever heard of PGP. Nope
I asked if she had ever heard of Edward Snowden. Nope.
Being able to do stuff on the internet confers tremendous
advantages, but it comes at a price. Part of the price is
learning about security. Some people grew up in wholesome
rural Pollyannaville where they never locked their doors
... but when they move to the big city they need to learn
to lock up.
Internet security is far from perfect. I spend a fair bit
of my time trying to make it better. In the meantime,
consider the following:
0% security --- no warning.
99% security --- scary warning.
99.9% security --- no warning.
100% security --- (does not exist)
That seems remarkably non-monotonic. Downgrading from
99% security (HTTPS) to no security (HTTP) should cause
more warnings, not less, but that's not what happens at
present.
The /first/ time you try to make an HTTPS connection to
a place like av8n.com or phys-l.org, the browser will
complain because it hasn't seen the security certificate
before. You should accept the certificate. Thereafter
you have confidence that the site you are visiting is
the correct site ... or at least it is the /same/ site
as specified in the accepted certificate.
If you want to verify the certificate, see below.
Also (!) using HTTPS means third parties cannot tamper
with the data. In theory they cannot spy on the connection
to see what it is you are reading, although at present
there are ways around this.
In the near future there will be zero-cost ways of making
the security warning go away. Right now there are ways
of making it go away, but they cost money, and I'm too
cheap to pay for something that provides no real security
and will very soon be completely pointless.