Millions of old phones, laptops, and smart gadgets could stop working later this week

The internet connectivity on older tech devices and smart gadgets could stop working on Thursday after a key digital certificate required to access websites safely expires.

Let's Encrypt, a nonprofit organization that is the largest issuer of digital certificates — which encrypts and protects the connection between devices and websites on the internet — will be forced to expire one of its most popular digital certificates, the IdentTrust DST Root CA X3, on Sept. 30.

This means several phones, computers, video game consoles, smart gadgets, and "Internet of Things" devices bought before 2017 that use the Let’s Encrypt digital certificate in question, and haven't updated their software since then, could face significant issues connecting to the internet.

The problem will primarily affect popular devices, such as iPhones running iOS 9 and below, Android phones running below the 2.3.6 software, Windows computers running software prior to XP SP3, Sony's PS3, and PS4 game consoles, and the Nintendo 3DS.

“Certain older devices from 2016 and before and any gadget that has the word ‘smart’ in it that requires internet connectivity, like certain TVs, bulbs, fridges, and home control apps, could be affected by this certificate expiration.

This problem has flown under the radar of many manufacturers, including Big Tech companies Apple, Google, Sony, and Microsoft — none of which have made announcements to customers about potential issues.

This is one of the first major digital certificates to expire since the advent of the internet in the 1980s. Therefore, there is no precedent for how to solve the problem besides updating the software on devices.

Although there is a significant risk of millions of devices not working on Thursday, some internet security experts say it could affect every device in different ways.

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