Disable "Safari can't verify the identity of website..." dialog in Safari

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Level 1

10 points

Disable "Safari can't verify the identity of website..." dialog in Safari

My parents occasionally get a dialog saying "Safari can't verify the identity of website..." in Safari. Since it's impractical to teach them the subtleties of certificate management, and have them apply that logic consistently, I want Safari to always reject those websites without popping up the dialog. Is there a way to do that?

Notes

I want to automatically reject pages that would show this dialog, not automatically accept them. (There is an easy solution for the accepting case).
I'm OK with them not being allowed to go to some legitimate sites that are having temporary certificate issues. The downside of them selecting "Continue" to a bank-spoofing site is far higher.
They are using Retina 5K iMacs with OS X El Capitan and Safari 9.1.3.

Thanks

Posted on Sep 4, 2016 8:29 AM

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Answer 1

tygb

Level 9

65,016 points

Sep 4, 2016 8:46 AM in response to SmarteePantz

Hello !

SmarteePantz

Your respected parents are using the Retina 5K i MAC with EL - Capitan, that is so good. And if any pop up comes Safari can't verify the identity of website ... in safari that sometimes makes uneasy.

And if you really wanna reject the page .

I searched an article for it : OS X El Capitan: If your certificate isn’t being accepted

So , have a lovely day ahead .

Thanks .

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Answer 2

SmarteePantz Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 4, 2016 8:55 AM in response to tygb

My question actually asked something different. That page describes how to add a certificate to the computer's certificate store so Safari will accept it as valid. I want Safari to automatically reject any site that does not have a valid certificate (using only the certificates that come with OS X). But thanks for responding.

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Answer 3

tygb

Level 9

65,016 points

Sep 4, 2016 9:10 AM in response to SmarteePantz

I sincerely apologize for it , i found another article for validation of certificates : Keychain Access: Determine if a certificate is valid

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Answer 4

SmarteePantz Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 4, 2016 9:18 AM in response to tygb

My question actually asked something different. That page describes how to use the Keychain Access app to determine if a certificate is valid. I want Safari to automatically reject any site that does not have a valid certificate (using only the certificates that come with OS X). But thanks for responding.

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Answer 5

VikingOSX

Level 10

124,658 points

Sep 4, 2016 9:30 AM in response to SmarteePantz

Apple is big on security, and that Safari website identity verification change that you wish to make would require internal logic changes to the application source. How does Firefox 48.0.1 or later respond to one of these websites?

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Answer 6

SmarteePantz Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 4, 2016 9:35 AM in response to VikingOSX

My question actually asked something different. Instead of changing identity verification, I want Safari to simply reject any site that does not have a valid certificate (using only the certificates that come with OS X). So, instead of bringing up the dialog box asking whether to continue, just don't continue and show a dialog box without any choice. Do you know if there is a setting for that?

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Answer 7

VikingOSX

Level 10

124,658 points

Sep 4, 2016 9:50 AM in response to SmarteePantz

In Safari Preferences : Notifications, see if the website that is popping the certificate dialog is listed there, and remove it. Although you might disable all Safari notifications in the System Preferences : Notification panel — security related dialogs may override those settings.

In Safari Preferences : General, enable the developer menu, and then press option+command+E to clear the browser cache. Disable the Developer menu afterwards. You might want to clear all website data once, and then reassess if the certificate dialog appears again.

Otherwise, I know of no other approach to achieve your goal, and what I said about this being an internal Safari program logic issue removes it from user fixes.

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