Around 6AM UTC on May 16th 2022, an issue arose where Klip video playback was disabled. The issue persisted for 6 hours and it was resolved by May 16th 12PM UTC.
The problem
When users tried to play any Klip video on https://outklip.com, there was an X mark on the video along with a message "the video is not the correct format." Videos would not play.
The issue disabled video playback only on outklip.com. Videos previously downloaded from Klip or uploaded to a different platform through Klip were not affected.
During the issue, users were able to record videos using Klip's screen recorder browser extension but were unable to play them.
The cause
Digital trust certificates for two of our web subdomains were past expiry and this resulted in the browser preventing videos from loading on outklip.com.
The fix
We renewed certificates for the two web subdomains, which immediately restored video playback.
How did the issue happen
For two of our web subdomains, we manually renew digital trust certificates every 90 days, before they expire. We rely on an automated e-mail reminder from an external service to get notified when it is time to renew the certificates. This service has worked well for us for the last 2 years.
This time around, we did not receive an automated reminder email, it didn't even land in spam. Because we didn't get an email, we failed to act in time to renew the certificate before expiry. The expired certificates led to the disabling of web domains needed for video playback.
What we are doing to prevent a recurrence
We have now created our own internal reminder system for manual certificate renewal, to avoid relying on an external service.
We are also looking to switch to automatic certificate renewal to prevent any mishap due to manual error.
Summary
Video playback on outklip.com was disabled for 6 hours on May 16th 2022. The issue was due to a manual error that resulted in certain digital trust certificates expiring. To address the issue, we renewed the certificates and service was immediately restored.
We assure users that we have taken steps to prevent a recurrence of this and similar issues.
