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Firefox browser hi-jacked

  • 10 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by John99

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From: <privacy issue email address removed by a forum Moderator ~J99> Date: 9 September 2016 at 16:57:07 WEST To: <....> Subject: Re: ADN'S News Page HACK... Don’t think is anything at our end, the next buttons all work ok for me anyway. Sounds to me like her browser has been hijacked

From: Virjini To: Paul RE: ADN'S News Page HACK... "Since y'day, when I click on Next, this new window is on re-direct: https://www.hidemyass.com/pricing I immediately clear all history, cookies, everything, as it appears to be a malicious site."

As a Firefox fan, I use it exclusively and have set max security, use daily or on power-up AVG, have a firewall and regularly use the C+cap+del when each web-site opens. The above ADN has a Next 'button', which - when clicked on - re-directs to a malicious web-site in another window. The ADN's tekkie Chris says: Subject: Re: ADN'S News Page HACK... Don’t think is anything at our end, the next buttons all work ok for me anyway. Sounds to me like her browser has been hijacked"... Next step, please? Many thanks, Virjini

From: <privacy issue email address removed by a forum Moderator ~J99> Date: 9 September 2016 at 16:57:07 WEST To: <....> Subject: Re: ADN'S News Page HACK... Don’t think is anything at our end, the next buttons all work ok for me anyway. Sounds to me like her browser has been hijacked From: Virjini To: Paul RE: ADN'S News Page HACK... "Since y'day, when I click on Next, this new window is on re-direct: https://www.hidemyass.com/pricing I immediately clear all history, cookies, everything, as it appears to be a malicious site." As a Firefox fan, I use it exclusively and have set max security, use daily or on power-up AVG, have a firewall and regularly use the C+cap+del when each web-site opens. The above ADN has a Next 'button', which - when clicked on - re-directs to a malicious web-site in another window. The ADN's tekkie Chris says: Subject: Re: ADN'S News Page HACK... Don’t think is anything at our end, the next buttons all work ok for me anyway. Sounds to me like her browser has been hijacked"... Next step, please? Many thanks, Virjini

Modified by John99

Chosen solution

Thank you again John! I have now posted this item, altho' I couldn't work out how to join you in on the page: "To add to John's kind efforts to find a solution: I have tried the web-site algarvedailynews.com via Private Browsing and Internet Explorer (which I have purely as a back-up). I also had Do Not Track as part of my Ff setup and have now installed u-block-origen, as suggested by John."

[ActiveTouch General Plugin Container Version 105 - IS THIS IT?]

"My own solution is to view each article separately on another tab, always using the Ctrl+Shft+Del to clear EVERYTHING once the page has finished all its down-loads.

I can now always use the icons, click on Next, add a comment without being 'frozen' or a redirect opening in another window. :) Not ideal, perhaps, but workable.."

Thank you again John AND Firefox! BIG SMILE >:X)

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If it is a a public page not requiring logging in what is the address of the page that you have trouble with ?

If it is that page I see a button [Load More Articles] not a next button

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No I guess the site you asked about is

That is the result of me clicking the next button and does not redirect to any other site.

You probably need to check your computer for adware or malware, including any unwanted toolbars

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Very many thanks, John. I haven't replied to you earlier, with a Problem Solved message, as am still trying to deal with it. I followed all of your suggestions, refreshed Firefox (reinstated my settings) and ran the 3 ad/malware programmes - result: no change... :-( Also ran a full AVG scan.

I have now used Internet Explorer to access the site. IE does not 'freeze' the Like and Next icons, nor re-directs to another web-site, but displays this warning on each news-item page: "To help protect your security Internet Explorer has blocked this web-site from displaying content with security certificate errors"

Could this message relate to the hidden web-site waiting for the icons to be clicked on?

I also tried accessing via Firefox in https mode. Same result, of course.

Don't know how to proceed from here. Kind regards, Virjini

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P.S. Sorry, I forgot: No toolbar, other than the Menu bar, with minimal buttons. Also ran full AVG scan. V

Modified by Virjini

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I checked the not secure http site. If instead I try to access it as a secure site httpS

I do get a security error

algarvedailynews.com uses an invalid security certificate. 

The certificate is only valid for the following names: server.algarvedailynews.com, www.server.algarvedailynews.com Error code: SSL_ERROR_BAD_CERT_DOMAIN

I checked with a third party site and that confirms errors


Sorry no more ideas on why you see a redirect to some other site, other than the fact that the news site is full of adverts.

There is probably no need for a site to be secure if you are not paying for anything and all it is doing is providing news stories.

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Many grateful thanks, again, John. The 'Tekkie' responded that the web-site "doesn't have an SSL certificate, so the site cannot be accessed via https only http, as for protected her information, if all she is doing is browsing the contents what information could be in peril?" It's my understanding that being re-directed to a malicious URL (which the 'Tekkie' doesn't seem to think inconvenient, or worse) is a security risk in itself. We mustn't forget that Firefox has been implicated (also by the 'Tekkie') as the underlying cause, as the icons all work, repeatedly, without problem - via Internet Explorer.. kind regards, KIA ORA! V

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It all works for me without any redirection, so rather than it being a Firefox issue it seemed to be more likely a malware issue that happens to be affecting Firefox at present.

I note from your comments that you see redirects. You provided a link to a ublock warning That would appear to indicate the problem is adverts and advert scripts. The ads served may vary because of tracking information on different users. You may find it helps

Malware does sometimes affect only one browser or one browser account/profile, but some malware later spreads or additional malware is downloaded.

There may be further investigations you could try on your computer, but those get rather tricky, and I would probably then need to obtain additional help myself with interpreting the results. The ublock support forum is probably your best next step for now. Please try that and say how you get on, and please reply posting a link to your ublock question. Thanks.

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Chosen Solution

Thank you again John! I have now posted this item, altho' I couldn't work out how to join you in on the page: "To add to John's kind efforts to find a solution: I have tried the web-site algarvedailynews.com via Private Browsing and Internet Explorer (which I have purely as a back-up). I also had Do Not Track as part of my Ff setup and have now installed u-block-origen, as suggested by John."

[ActiveTouch General Plugin Container Version 105 - IS THIS IT?]

"My own solution is to view each article separately on another tab, always using the Ctrl+Shft+Del to clear EVERYTHING once the page has finished all its down-loads.

I can now always use the icons, click on Next, add a comment without being 'frozen' or a redirect opening in another window. :) Not ideal, perhaps, but workable.."

Thank you again John AND Firefox! BIG SMILE >:X)

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Thanks for posting back. Glad things have improved even if we never fully got to the bottom of the problem.