NS tagged by Norton AV

[Monkeys in Helmets]

Anti-Phishing & Anti-Virus programs are famous for false negatives and false positives. Here's what I just got in OSX with the latest build of Firefox:

WEBSITE BLOCKED

http://www.nationstates.net/page=list_r ... p/start=10
Learn more about phishing

This site may be fraudulent. Accessing this site could make you vulnerable
to criminal activity.

To avoid fraudulent sites:

* Don't reply to unsolicited email or pop-ups asking for personal or financial information, and don't use any links in the message.
* If concerned about your account, contact the company by phone, or open a new browser session and type the company's Web address yourself.
* Use anti-virus software and a firewall, and keep them up-to-date.
* Don't email personal or financial information.

I want to view this Web site anyway
It is recommended that you DO NOT visit this Web site.

Dunno why - just reporting in.

EDIT: In spite of the "just report the problem and let us work out the solution" mantra - I have this. I was able to reboot and connect without the AV block. The difference between the two screens was the Google ads that appeared. I know you don't control those, but if they like your adspace and you like their adrevenue... I'd chat.

[[violet]]

Thanks. Haven't heard of us being blocked by anybody, but from your description it seems likely we served up an ad from a domain Norton didn't like.

All our ads are from Google, who are very good at keeping nasties out. So I'm going to assume it was a one-off problem, but let me know if you see it again.

[Monkeys in Helmets]

I suspect you're right: a domain serving the ad got the AV app's hackles up.

I'm certifiably paranoid about Internet security. Google has an excellent security record given how gigantic a target it is.

I've logged into NS using machines with four different firewall/AV app configurations since my original post and haven't gotten another warning.

[Monkeys in Helmets]

Happened again tonight. Norton Confidential for OSX when cruising the World:

WEBSITE BLOCKED

http://www.nationstates.net/page=list_r ... pha/regi...
Learn more about phishing

This site may be fraudulent. Accessing this site could make you vulnerable
to criminal activity.

[Usual People In Life]

please do excuse me while I look into this as well. I use Norton 360 and I also have K9 web protection and the Adsense OPT OUT cookie program, so I'll see what I get

[Usual People In Life]

No, after lots of refreshes with cache bypass I can only get up ads for Wonga and eFax.

Not trying to be nosy but what kind of sites do you go on?

[Smunkeeville]

Almost at random my Kapersky will flag the forum as phishing, I believe it's in relation to what banner ad is loading. This only happens when I am on IE. If I am on Firefox my add-ons seem to solve the problem.....

Oh, and the local library's webfilter is still blocking NS as being pornographic.

[Usual People In Life]

If you like I could request that Symantec re-review NationStates but that might require Max's or Violets permission.

Not trying to advertise but below (which I wont put in a URL tag because I messed up the last one) is the link to the Norton Safeweb report.

http://safeweb.norton.com/report/show?u ... states.net

It may be of use to Violet, Max or any other admin. The page also contains a link with instructions to re-review the site which does require users to verify that they manage the site.

It does report that it is safe but that may have been from a while ago. It should have checked the whole site.

I do wonder if it is a nation flag that is causing the tags. Violet, you might wan to run a security/virus scan on the server just to be sure.

[[violet]]

I remember when we had virus flags. Self-replicating flags: when you viewed a nation with one, it changed your nation's flag to the same thing. Fun times.

But that's not happening here. It's almost certainly an ad, which is hard to replicate because everybody gets different ads, in combination with Norton/Symantec being paranoid and/or Google Ads being lax. In any case it's no danger unless you click an ad. If you do, I'd encourage you to be as cautious as you would when visiting any new site on the internet; i.e. take basic steps to ensure you're really where you think you are.

[Monkeys in Helmets]

My ultra-paranoid firewall setup blocked NS itself tonight because part of the page contains a link to a malicious site.

I don't know if it's malicious, but tonight it was: tag.admeld.com

This is a hardware firewall, not an application.

All I had to do was refresh to get another ad and it ended. The uncomfortable question is IF my firewall was right and Google was lax, whut are they doing about it? I don't expect you to answer for Google, just be aware of the potential, which is that NS itself might someday end up on someone's black list.

Which would be bad.

[Usual People In Life]

Can I just ask what security program you use?

[Pretty Awesome Persons]

Not to randomly just butt in, but I use Avira Antivir and I never get a warning from it about NationStates. Its been stressed enough that the ads have alot to do with whether an AV warns you or not.

My school blocks NS for being a Flash Game.

[Usual People In Life]

Neither do I with Norton 360 V4, even when I had NIS 2009 I never had any warnings from them. I would advise that you get in touch with your security program provider and let them know.

[Monkeys in Helmets]

I am a geek, so where I am and what machine I'm logged into determines what AV I have. I can't recommend any particular program because when I use one to scan another machine with a different program across a LAN, they routinely catch something at least vaguely suspicious that the other application missed.

The licenses I manage include Norton AntiVirus (Symantec), BitDefender, and I have an old laptop with AVG on it and it appears to be doing a good job as well.

The reason I opened this topic is not to implicate Google Ads or the advertisers. The warnings I get are that the ads are being sent here from a server that has been added to a database of servers that have been shown to contain malware or phishing content. That doesn't mean it hasn't been caught and dealt with: a database is out of date as soon as it's released. And it doesn't mean the advertiser's web site is on that server. [violet]'s advice is sound.

One of the best ways to avoid ending up where you don't want to be on the Internet is to not "click through" content to other sites - not in ads or in email. Open up a tab and navigate to them manually.

[Mahaj]

I use Hitman Pro 3.5, no problems.

That IS what we are talking about, right?