Where the Wild Warnings Are
Mustafa Embre Acer, Emily Stark, Adrienne Porter Felt, Sascha Fahl, Radhika Bhargava, Bhanu Dev, Matt Braithwaite, Ryan Sleevi, Parisa Tabriz · 2017
HTTPS error warnings are supposed to alert browser users to network attacks. Unfortunately, a wide range of non-attack circumstances trigger hundreds of millions of spurious browser warnings per month. Spurious warnings frustrate users, hinder the widespread adoption of HTTPS, and undermine trust in browser warnings. We investigate the root causes of HTTPS error warnings in the field, with the goal of resolving benign errors.