Internet blackout: what to do to prevent devices from stopping working?

Smartphones, smart TVs, video game consoles and many other devices will no longer be able to connect to Internet as of September 30, 2021.

This is because a “internet blackout”, Due to the expiration of the authentication certificate, which is of vital importance so that the connection between the device and the server.

Therefore, all computers and devices that do not have the update of this certificate will be left without an Internet connection.

Certificate expiration

Specifically, the security certificate cA de DTS Root CA X3 de Let´s Encrypt, present in old devices, is the one that will lose the ability to connect to the Internet on September 30.

Let’s Encrypt, is a non-profit organization, responsible for issuing certificates that allow you to encrypt connections between devices and the Internet in general, which guarantees that no one can intercept and steal your data on the way.

Therefore, the importance of this certificate lies in the fact that every time you enter an Internet site that starts with HTTPS (meaning that the site in question is safe), it is thanks to the certificate issued.

However, on September 30, Let’s Encrypt will stop using this old certificate and therefore, the connection to Internet.

What consequences will it have?

According to the specialized portal TechCrunch, this will have no consequence for the majority of Internet users in the world.

However, this does not mean that people will not be affected, since there are a large number of computers, devices and browsers that already they will not be able to connect to the internet if they are not up to date.

What devices will be affected?

According to the tech site, the devices that will be affected by the expiration of the certificate will be those that are not updated regularlySuch as embedded systems that are designed not to update automatically or smartphones that run years old versions of software.

To be more precise in this regard, below, we leave you a list of the affected devices:

What can you do?

Check your devices and make the corresponding updates. Most will not have problems, although inevitably there will be “victims” by this “blackout” of the Internet.

For instance, PlayStation 3 firmware is only available up to version 4.88. Sony released this update in June of this year, however, it did not specify whether the update prepares the console for the security certificate change.

Similarly, home appliances connected to the Internet, Smart TV, smart coolers and some routers are also another problem.

If these devices were purchased before 2017 and have not received any recent updates, they could be affected by the outage.

A possible solution is to download a recent firmware manually and install it on the devices via a USB port.

El Universal / Mexico / GDA.

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