14 DAY TRIAL // An intermediate certificate used by Google to validate the server managing email sending in Gmail service expired on Saturday, causing email clients to return error messages on outgoing email activity.
The issue has been reported in various online communities, as well as in different Twitter updates, since an invalid certificate for the smtp.gmail.com server disrupted Gmail service.
Problem fixed in over two hours
Users started to receive the alerts when trying to send emails via OS X Mail and Microsoft Outlook applications. It appears that the errors were triggered because the validity of the intermediate certificate signed by Google Internet Authority G2 did not receive an extension beyond April 4.
GeoTrust Global CA (Certificate Authority) is the higher body in the chain of trust that issued the cert for Google Internet Authority G2, which, in turn, is authorized to generate a certificate for the SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) server.
It took a little over two hours since receiving the reports on the incident for Google to solve the problem, according to the Gmail status page.
“The problem with Gmail should be resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support. Please rest assured that system reliability is a top priority at Google, and we are making continuous improvements to make our systems better,” the update for the Gmail service currently says.
Reminders for cert renewal still needed
Google was silent all throughout the service restoration process and did not release any comment on the matter.
At the moment, the certificate for smtp.gmail.com is set to expire on December 30, 2015, and the validity of the intermediate certificate from Google Internet Authority G2 ends on December 31, 2016.
A renewal of the intermediary certificate would have avoided the service disruption, and it is unclear why this process did not occur in the case of Google. Usually, companies have a good management of cert expiration and prepare ahead of time in order to maintain client access to their services.
