Our Blackboard servers are running in a secure (https://) environment. If your browser for any reason does not have SSL enabled, you will not be able to connect to Blackboard or any other secure Western websites.
To verify that SSL is enabled, follow the instructions for your browser below.
1. Click the "Tools" menu .
2. Select "Internet Options".
3. Select the "Advanced" tab.
4. Scroll down to "Security".
5. Make sure that "Use SSL 3.0" and "Use TLS 1.0" are both checked.
6. Click "Apply", then click "OK" to close the dialog box.
1. Click the "Tools" menu (on Mac OS X, this is the "Preferences" menu).
2. Select "Options" (on Mac OS X, skip this step).
3. Click the "Advanced" tab.
4. Make sure that "Use SSL 3.0" and "Use TLS 1.0" are both checked.
5. Click "OK" to close the dialog box.
OS X Safari includes SSL compatibility by default. It does not need to be enabled. Please see this page on the Apple support website for more information about how OS X Safari handles security. If you are unable to access Blackboard with Safari, please contact the Help Desk at helpdesk@wwu.edu or by calling x3333.
You may see security-related prompts when accessing any content from your Blackboard course that does not come from a secure environment. This may include outside websites, YouTube videos that are posted as links rather than by using the YouTube Mashup tool, and any other content that originates outside of Blackboard.
When attempting to access this type of content in Internet Explorer 7 or 8, if you see a security prompt that asks if you want to "view only the webpage content that was delivered securely", you should click "No", provided you trust the source of the content.
Clicking "Yes" will result in a "Navigation cancelled" message.
If you see this message, you will need to clear your cache to get access to the non-secure content again. To do this:
1. In Internet Explorer 7, go to https://courses.wwu.edu/. You don't need to log in to Blackboard.
2. Click the "Tools" menu in Internet Explorer.
3. Select "Internet Options".
4. Select the "Advanced" tab.
5. Scroll down to "Security".
6. Find and click the checkbox next to "Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed".
7. Click "Apply".
8. Click "OK". Internet Explorer may take several seconds to close while the new settings are applied.
9. Exit from Internet Explorer, re-start it, and navigate again to Blackboard. When the secure content prompt appears again, this time, click "No" to view all the content.
To avoid such security prompts and Navigation Cancelled messages, you need to "trust" our Blackboard site. Follow the steps below to add our Blackboard site to the sites you tell your browser to trust.
1. In Internet Explorer 7, go to https://courses.wwu.edu/. You don't need to log in to Blackboard.
2. Click the "Tools" menu in Internet Explorer.
3. Select "Internet Options".
4. Click the "Security" tab.
5. Click the "Trusted Sites" icon (the green checkmark).
6. Modify the Security Level for the Trusted Sites zone to "Medium Low".
7. Click on the "Sites" button in the upper right corner area of the Security tab.
8. The web address https://courses.wwu.edu/ should appear in the Webites window. If it does not, type it in under "Add this website to the zone:" and click the "Add" button.
9. Click the "Close" button at the bottom of the Trusted sites dialog box.
10. Click "OK" to exit from the Internet Options tool.
1. In Firefox, go to https://courses.wwu.edu/. You don't need to log in to Blackboard.
2. Click the "Tools" menu (on Mac OS X, this is the "Preferences" menu).
3. Select "Options" (on Mac OS X, skip this step).
4. Click the "Security" tab.
5. Next to "Warning Messages", click "Settings".
6. Make sure the checkbox "I'm about to view an encrypted page that contains some unencrypted information" is not checked.
7. Click "OK" to close the Security Warnings dialog box.
8. Click "OK" to exist from the Options tool.
OS X Safari assumes that non-secure content can be mixed with secure content without problems. See this page on the Apple support website for more information about how Safari handles security.
However, you may see a warning the first time you access the Blackboard application with Safari because it may not recognize the Blackboard certificate as valid.
If this happens in Safari while accessing https://courses.wwu.edu/, you should trust the certificate. To trust the certificate, click on "Show Certificate" in the dialog box that says "Safari can't verify the identity of the website 'courses.wwu.edu'. Click the box next to "Always trust 'courses.wwu.edu" when connecting to 'courses.wwu.edu'", then click "Continue". You should not see the certificate warning again.
More things you can do to optimize your security settings in Safari:
1. In Safari, go to https://courses.wwu.edu/. You don't need to log in to Blackboard. If a message appears that
2. Click the "File" menu.
3. Select "Preferences".
4. Click the "Security" tab.
5. Make sure the "Block pop-up windows" option is not checked.
6. Make sure Cookies is set to "Only from sites I visit".
7. You can leave "Ask before sending a non-secure form from a secure website" checked. In most cases, you will not be using a non-secure form from within Blackboard, and unchecking this box could open your browser up to non-secure forms from other sources.
Copyright ©
2013 Western Washington University : page updated
04.14.2011
