# What the heck does this mean?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-does-this-mean/55411>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 22, 2001, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-does-this-mean/55411 "2001-02-22T02:43:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jeannie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@Jeannie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeannie)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2001, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-does-this-mean/55411/1 "2001-02-22T02:43:57Z")

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I wanted to go to Hotmail to check my email. The following message popped up in a little window:

> [@](#):
>
> You have attempted to establish a connection with [lc4.law5.hotmail.passport.com](http://lc4.law5.hotmail.passport.com). However, the security certificate [Glossary Entry] presented belongs to the web site [lc1.law13.hotmail.passport.com](http://lc1.law13.hotmail.passport.com). It is possible, though unlikely, that someone may be trying to intercept your communication with this web site.
> 
> If you suspect the certificate shown below does not belong to [lc1.law13.hotmail.passport.com](http://lc1.law13.hotmail.passport.com), please cancel the connection and notify the site administrator.

So, what does that mean?

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**Author:** ![evilbeth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/evilbeth/32/2268_2.png) [@evilbeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilbeth)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2001, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-does-this-mean/55411/2 "2001-02-22T05:29:22Z")

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Unfortunately, I don’t know but I’ve also been getting security certificate notifications on hotmail all day.

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**Author:** ![Commander\_Fortune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Commander\_Fortune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Fortune)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2001, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-does-this-mean/55411/3 "2001-02-22T06:39:28Z")

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Hey. Me too. but not if I type in the address, only if I try to navigate to it through history.

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**Author:** ![OneChance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/74df32/32.png) [@OneChance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneChance)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2001, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-does-this-mean/55411/4 "2001-02-22T07:50:15Z")

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It means [passport.com](http://passport.com) is trying to use a security certificate on [lc4.law5.hotmail.passport.com](http://lc4.law5.hotmail.passport.com) that was registered to [lc1.law13.hotmail.passport.com](http://lc1.law13.hotmail.passport.com). I’d just ignore it.

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**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2001, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-does-this-mean/55411/5 "2001-02-22T08:06:41Z")

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To expand on what OneChance said, a security certificate (used to establish the authenticity of a site you visit on the web) is specific to one computer. It is possible to use a certificate from one computer on a different computer, but your browser should notice this and warn you.

In this case, you can figure that Microsoft had some weirdness and doesn’t have enough certificates and is sharing them. You should worry if it says something like “The security certificate presented belongs to [evil.hackers.com](http://evil.hackers.com)”, or anything other than some.computer.at.the.same.company.as.you.were.expecting.