Unverified SSL Certificates in Apple Mail
Apple Mail can be a pain at the best of times, but it can become a real problem when it starts kicking up a fuss about unverified hosts, self-signed certificates and a plethora of other SSL related problems.
In this day and age if you are not using an SSL connection to send and receive your password, and emails, you are leaving a security whole wide open, which is why it is important to ensure that all this security shizzle is working just peachy keen.
Unverified Mail Host
In the last few days I have spent time trying to fix the self-signed certificate problem in Apple Mail, because the old certificate expired and for some reason the new certificate didn’t roll over seamlessly, the annoying side effect being that i was constantly prompted for permission to connect, despite telling Mail to permanently accept the SSL certificate for the mail host for the server I wished to connect to.
No Apparent Solution That Works
Having tried a bunch of different work arounds, many listed on these various sites:
- Self-Signed Certs in Apple Mail
- SSL Certificate in Apple Mail
- How to Fix the SSL Verify Issue in Leopard Mail
- Apple Mail + Unsigned SSL’s = Brick Wall
I came to the conclusion that the only way to provide a work around for the issues coming from self-signed certificates on a CPanel/WHM server was to simply go out and buy a certificate for the server hostname for 10 bucks and be done with it.
The Quickest Solution, Actually!
I of course could do this because I run my own dedicated servers and I host my own mail service, but for those who are using a third-party provider? The only real solution, and even then, it might not work, is to change the name of your incoming and outgoing mail server to the hostname that is highlighted as being possibly fraudulent by Apple Mail.
Having installed the new service SSL which I purchased in WHM, and accepted the new certificate permanently in Mail, I had zero problems thereafter!
