topic Re: Is this FORUM SAFE? in Get Support

Is this FORUM SAFE?

BEER — Sun, 29 May 2022 23:39:19 GMT

Re: Is this FORUM SAFE?

computergeek541 — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 21:57:07 GMT

@BEER wrote:
According to my browser (Apple Safari) -- this forum website has many trackers - just a few seconds ago I got a pop-up warning that 26 trackers have been blocked by my security settings. Wonder how many are not blocked and why so many trackers. According to my Safari browser security reports KIJIJI is even worse followed by ALI Express.

Such warning don't tell you the source of such activity. I would running some Malwarebytes software to scan your computer. Much of the time, a lot of this activity isn't related to the site that you're visiting.

Re: Is this FORUM SAFE?

HALIMACS — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 22:09:24 GMT

@BEER

I'm guessing the forum is safe. See site certification which should show locked padlock in URL.

What makes it UNSAFE is users who unknowingly share too much personal information in posts or directly in their username.

Re: Is this FORUM SAFE?

esjliv — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 22:33:27 GMT

Hi @BEER ,

I would guess it is as safe as most places where you enter your email online.

See Privacy info. here:

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/privacy-legal

but this could be mainly for activating with Public Mobile.

See this portion of it:

Website Terms

Re: Is this FORUM SAFE?

kb_mv — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 22:41:05 GMT

@BEER wrote:
According to my browser (Apple Safari) -- this forum website has many trackers - just a few seconds ago I got a pop-up warning that 26 trackers have been blocked by my security settings. Wonder how many are not blocked and why so many trackers. According to my Safari browser security reports KIJIJI is even worse followed by ALI Express.

@BEER I use Brave browser and it is showing only one tracker on the Community landing page (js-agent.newrelic.com/nr-1198.min.js). When I launch Safari I am only seeing the same one there. Back to Brave and on Kijiji I see 22 cross site trackers and 17 on AliExpress.

Re: Is this FORUM SAFE?

TheGx — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 22:37:07 GMT

@BEER :Try using mobile browser like Duck Duck Go they block trackers etc and use free VPN like ProtonVPN and desktop browsers like Firefox that have privacy settings that block those things.

Re: Is this FORUM SAFE?

will13am — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 22:53:11 GMT

@BEER , if you are concerned about this site being doubtful or tracking all your activities, run a script blocker add-on and only enable scripts originating from the parent website. I do that with sites that I visit for the very first time. Even for often visited sites, I don't enable all scripts as I do not believe they are needed.

Re: Is this FORUM SAFE?

will13am — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 22:57:15 GMT

@HALIMACS wrote:
@BEER

I'm guessing the forum is safe. See site certification which should show locked padlock in URL.

What makes it UNSAFE is users who unknowingly share too much personal information in posts or directly in their username.

Have you ever received SSL error notifications for this site? Not saying they are real but they do happen.

Re: Is this FORUM SAFE?

HALIMACS — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 23:10:31 GMT

@will13am wrote, "Have you ever received SSL error notifications for this site?"

Nope... have others, I wonder? What type of SSL error?

Re: Is this FORUM SAFE?

will13am — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 23:26:13 GMT

@HALIMACS wrote:
@will13am wrote, "Have you ever received SSL error notifications for this site?"

Nope... have others, I wonder? What type of SSL error?

That when the browser stops the webpage from loading because the certificate is doubtful (can’t verify the SSL certificate installed on the site). Happens to me a lot on this site. I have mentioned this before.

Re: Is this FORUM SAFE?

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 23:31:03 GMT

Ditto. The current security certificate expires Mar 10. I've seen the message too in the past. I can only assume that the company accidentally lets it lapse for a short period of time.

Re: Is this FORUM SAFE?

HALIMACS — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 23:33:56 GMT

@will13am wrote:
@HALIMACS wrote:
@will13am wrote, "Have you ever received SSL error notifications for this site?"

Nope... have others, I wonder? What type of SSL error?
That when the browser stops the webpage from loading because the certificate is doubtful (can’t verify the SSL certificate installed on the site). Happens to me a lot on this site. I have mentioned this before.

Almost never get it - and I've never gotten it on PM sites.

Maybe @Nezgar can weigh in on this?

Re: Is this FORUM SAFE?

gpixel — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 00:45:19 GMT

this happens when the hackers compromise the certificate. there was one in may and people were hacked... 😉

Re: Is this FORUM SAFE?

Nezgar — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 04:58:29 GMT

Everything seems fine... A scan just now shows a "B" rating

https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca

And the certification path is all good...

Also gets a "B" rating with GTmetrix: https://gtmetrix.com/reports/productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/U8qBNraN/

Only a couple resources are loaded from "off-site" sites: js-agent.newrelic.com, images.ctfassets.net, bam-cell.nr-data.net, widget.telus.tiia.ai

Anyone getting a certificate error, it would be interesting to see WHICH server name is supposedly a concern. If it's the main site cert for "productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca" or something like one of those previously identified.

Re: Is this FORUM SAFE?

gpixel — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 05:47:45 GMT

@Nezgar it was the self serve site that had the certificate error 😯

*it happened last year a couple times when they were getting hacked 🤭

Re: Is this FORUM SAFE?

Nezgar — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 05:01:53 GMT

@gpixel wrote:
@Nezgar it was the self serve site that had the certificate error 😯

OK let's try that one then!

https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=selfserve.publicmobile.ca

All checks out... except I notice that the current certificate expires Mon, 12 Apr 2021 12:00:00 UTC (expires in 1 month and 27 days)

Which browser reports the error? This could be something like a browser like Chrome might start flagging a site if the expiry date is "near".

Re: Is this FORUM SAFE?

kingofqueens — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 23:35:59 GMT

@BEER Thanks for the heads up. You just never know.

Re: Is this FORUM SAFE?

hTideGnow — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 00:53:35 GMT

@Nezgar wrote:
@gpixel wrote:
@Nezgar it was the self serve site that had the certificate error 😯
OK let's try that one then!
https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=selfserve.publicmobile.ca

All checks out... except I notice that the current certificate expires Mon, 12 Apr 2021 12:00:00 UTC (expires in 1 month and 27 days)

Which browser reports the error? This could be something like a browser like Chrome might start flagging a site if the expiry date is "near".

.. and the community certificate: