Message from PayPal. "ACTION MAY BE REQUIRED". Do we need to change anything in eCart?

We've received a couple of messages from our clients that PayPal has sent out emails about some service upgrades. I have been looking into this but can't confirm one way or the other if we need to do anything.

After logging into one of the manager accounts I then also find another alert. I'm not sure if it's related. It doesn't appear to be the same so we might have two updates that we need to account for. Maybe not.

I can provide more details if needed but I figured WA was familiar with them and I just wanted to double check.

The email alert mentions "upgrading various SSL certificates". This one will take place over the next year. Doesn't sound like it involves use doing anything but not totally sure.

Then the alert that I found in the manager login. "Changes to the PNREF in Production environment March 25th 2015".
It is something to do with adding an "A" or a "B" to the transaction ID. "It will still be 12 characters...", blah, blah, blah.

Is there anything we need to do to our Advanced eCart setups?

Thanks,
TroyD

Please provide more details on the specifics mentioned in the alerts.

Sure thing. I wasn't sure if I could just copy/paste them here but here you go.

The alert found in the manager login, which takes affect if just a couple of days. (no additional information or links with this one)

  Changes to the PNREF in Production environment March 25th 2015
Wed Mar 11, 2015 11:04:54

On the evening of March 25th, 2015 we will be making changes to the PNREF/transaction ID"s in our production/live environment.  PNREF/transaction ID"s will begin with either the letter "A" or "B".  The PNREF value will continue to be a 12 character string of printable characters, however the first character will be changing to either an "A" or "B".  In an effort to allow merchants to test their integrations with the new PNREF values we changed the PNREF vaules to reflect this new formatting in July, 2013 in our Pilot/Test environment. Should you need to test the new PNREF values before these changes are released into the production/live environment, please use our pilot/test environment.  Please continue to monitor the alert section within the PayPal Manager for any additional updates.  

And here is the contents of the email sent today. (I also pasted the link that was used in this email where it mentions more details.)

  Because we support our merchants in helping them grow their business, we continue to make significant investments and improvements to our infrastructure. These improvements sometimes require us to perform necessary service upgrades.
Please read below as we explain what the change is, and what action may be required by you.*
What’s happening?
Over the course of 2015 and 2016, PayPal will be working towards upgrading various SSL certificates. The changes include upgrading the following:
1. The version of the VeriSign Trusted Root Certificate used to establish secure connections to PayPal.
2. The signing algorithm of certificates (from SHA-1 to SHA-256).
Why is this happening?
We’re taking measures to address industry-wide security concerns which aren’t unique to PayPal. When implemented, these measures can help us improve the security and reliability of our PayPal integrations and help guard against current and future security threats.
When is this happening?
We’ve published the schedule of our service upgrade plan. Please check our 2015-2016 SSL Certificate Change microsite ( https://ppmts.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1236 ) for the most recent updates as published schedules may change. Our efforts to upgrade SSL certificates for our production endpoints are scheduled to start in May 2015, and will continue into next year.
Please note – Testing in the Sandbox environment is one of the best ways to make sure your integration works.  Sandbox endpoints have been upgraded to accept secure connections signed by the G5 Root Certificate.  Please review the microsite for information when SHA-256 testing is available for your integration.
What do I need to do?
For information regarding the important details of these upgrades, how it may impact your integration, and what you must do to future-proof your integration, please refer to the Merchant Security System Upgrade Guide on the microsite.
*Please note – If you’re impacted by this upgrade, you may be required to implement these changes prior to the dates listed on the microsite. Otherwise, you may not be able to process payments through your current integration with PayPal. In addition, if you’re integrated with a third party, please check with them on any additional steps you may need to take.
Questions can be directed to our Merchant Technical Services team on our Technical Support website. Click here ( https://ppmts.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1236 ) for more information.
Thanks for your patience as we continue to improve our services  

The first one is just saying that the PNREF/transaction ID information that is passed back to the site on checkout success is changing. nothing in that should impact you.

the second one is saying that they are upgrading the SSL Certificates on their servers, this should also not have an impact on you.

Thanks Jason.

That's what I figured but they made it sound like it was such a big deal that I wanted to confirm it wasn't. I figured you would know right away if it impacted us or not. Thanks for the confirmation.

TroyD

you're welcome.

And the updates from PayPal just keep coming......

We got this one the other day, shortly after our site stopped processing orders! Can someone please point me in the direction to fix this?


UPDATE: ACTION MAY BE REQUIRED: PayPal service upgrades for merchants.


UPDATE: Please see an important update below in red.
----
Because we support our merchants in helping them grow their business, we continue to make significant investments and improvements to our infrastructure. These improvements sometimes require us to perform necessary service upgrades.
Please read below as we explain what the change is, and what action may be required by you.*
What’s happening?
Over the course of 2015 and 2016, PayPal will be working towards upgrading various SSL certificates. The changes include upgrading the following:
The version of the VeriSign Trusted Root Certificate used to establish secure connections to PayPal.
The signing algorithm of certificates (from SHA-1 to SHA-256).
Why is this happening?
We’re taking measures to address industry-wide security concerns which aren’t unique to PayPal. When implemented, these measures can help us improve the security and reliability of our PayPal integrations and help guard against current and future security threats.
When is this happening?
We’ve published the schedule of our service upgrade plan. Please check our 2015-2016 SSL Certificate Change microsite for the most recent updates as published schedules may change. Our efforts to upgrade SSL certificates for our production endpoints are scheduled to start in May 2015, and will continue into next year.
Please note – Testing in the Sandbox environment is one of the best ways to make sure your integration works. Sandbox endpoints have been upgraded to accept secure connections signed by the G5 Root Certificate. Please review the microsite for information when SHA-256 testing is available for your integration.
What do I need to do?
For information regarding the important details of these upgrades, how it may impact your integration, and what you must do to future-proof your integration, please refer to the Merchant Security System Upgrade Guide on the microsite.
*Please note – If you’re impacted by this upgrade, you may be required to implement these changes prior to the dates listed on the microsite. Otherwise, you may not be able to process payments through your current integration with PayPal. In addition, if you’re integrated with a third party, please check with them on any additional steps you may need to take.
Questions can be directed to our Merchant Technical Services team on our Technical Support website. Click here for more information.
Thanks for your patience as we continue to improve our services.

You shouldn't need to make any updates. This shouldn't effect you.

Ray,
Sadly it was working fine up until the update took place. I've looked all over for an answer & can't seem to find out why. If it helps I host with Godaddy

What happens now? Is there a url where I can view the problem? Is there an error message? We will have to debug to see why your page isn't working, and I'll need more details to do that.