Did you get errors earlier with missing posting authority?
If you did, you were among millions who had problems today with an expired SSL root certificate.
WTF is a ssl root certificate?
As you may know, the web uses SSL certificates to secure data from third parties. These certificates were typically sold by SSL providers until 2012 when two Mozilla employees invented a product called Let's Encyrypt. This product was one of the biggest milestones in Internet history as it solved two problems that affects virtually every Internet website and application in the world.
First off, SSL certificates cost money and in fact can get quite expensive. Because of this, many site owners decided not to use SSL to secure their websites.
Google and other companies have been trying to push for an SSL Everywhere Internet where every site is encrypted with SSL security.
Let's Encrypt creates a way for web site owners to get free SSL certificates for life. This drastically increased how many websites used SSL encryption and greatly improved security all around.
Unfortunately there is a core component of SSL security that requires ongoing support, root certificates. Root certificates are hard coded into all web software creating a list of trusted authorities that can handle out SSL certificates. These root certificates don't change very often, but when they do, web browsers and other web enabled software need software updates to reflect it.
In fact, in the past over night SSL providers have paid other established SSL providers to use their root certificate to issue their own certificates. This allowed them to get into the SSL market without established credibility.
On September 30th, one of Let's Encrypt's root certificates was set to expire. This caused a lot of software that used this certificate to fail after this date. Many applications and software uses components that may not have been updated in the last five years to reflect updated root certificates.
On Hive, hiveblocks.com is currently down most likely as a result of this problem. Most if not all of the Hive Engine tribes have been having problems today as a result. If you are running an older browser or even an older mobile phone, you likely have seen problems with other websites as well. In fact, a mobile game I play called Mighty Party had problems as well.
As an end user, all you can do is update your operating system, browser, and any other software you use that connects with the web.
As a developer, check your dependencies and regression test your software to make sure all works as it should.
If you develop on Hive, make sure you have updated HiveJS and other critical packages to the latest version and make sure everything works.