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I've gotten a couple of question regarding security warning from the site recently so I thought I'd answer some questions from everyone.
1) Why do a I get a security warning from my browser when I try to login or access the site?
This is because the site is not running with an SSL certificate. If it were, you would be accessing https:// bearcatnews and not see any warnings. To be clear nothing about the site has changed in this regard since 2007 when it started. The reason why you're seeing the warning is that your browser has advanced over the years to prefer HTTPS over just HTTP addresses in site names for the sake of better security. I'd love to fix this but don't have to the power to do so and SSL certs cost money generally.
2) Should I do anything on my end about this?
I've mentioned this before but just to be on the safe side I would use a unique username and password combination for any site not using HTTPS including this one. Best practice for password security pretty much says you should have a unique password for every site you use regardless of whether it's HTTPS or not. That way if someone gets hacked you don't have to change an entire life's worth of passwords at once. If you're looking for a way to manage a million passwords, I'd suggest the password vault program 1Password. It's available for PC, MAC and mobile platforms.
3)Why is the front page broken?
The front news page was automated after the last software upgrade. The automation broke when both GoBearcats updated their site and the software program we were using updated to a new version. I would absolutely love to fix this but don't have the access needed to make that happen. If you'd rather just bypass it, you can set your browser bookmark to Http://bearcatnews.com/forums and it will skip this page entirely and go directly to the forums.
If there's anything else you would like to know please ask. I'll do the best I can to answer your questions.
1) Why do a I get a security warning from my browser when I try to login or access the site?
This is because the site is not running with an SSL certificate. If it were, you would be accessing https:// bearcatnews and not see any warnings. To be clear nothing about the site has changed in this regard since 2007 when it started. The reason why you're seeing the warning is that your browser has advanced over the years to prefer HTTPS over just HTTP addresses in site names for the sake of better security. I'd love to fix this but don't have to the power to do so and SSL certs cost money generally.
2) Should I do anything on my end about this?
I've mentioned this before but just to be on the safe side I would use a unique username and password combination for any site not using HTTPS including this one. Best practice for password security pretty much says you should have a unique password for every site you use regardless of whether it's HTTPS or not. That way if someone gets hacked you don't have to change an entire life's worth of passwords at once. If you're looking for a way to manage a million passwords, I'd suggest the password vault program 1Password. It's available for PC, MAC and mobile platforms.
3)Why is the front page broken?
The front news page was automated after the last software upgrade. The automation broke when both GoBearcats updated their site and the software program we were using updated to a new version. I would absolutely love to fix this but don't have the access needed to make that happen. If you'd rather just bypass it, you can set your browser bookmark to Http://bearcatnews.com/forums and it will skip this page entirely and go directly to the forums.
If there's anything else you would like to know please ask. I'll do the best I can to answer your questions.
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