[pachyderm]

I say possible, because I don't know for sure whether this is a problem with the particular Web site, or something else. Anyway, the last three mornings when going to the Psychology Today Web site, using my Camino browser for the Macintosh, I have been directed elsewhere. The first two mornings it appeared that I was directed to a Google search site; this morning a site that called itself "Apple security center" was advising me that my system was infected. Of course, Apple would never set up such a place. I had to force-quit Camino, because a pop-up window required an "OK" and Camino would not shut down in the usual way. Before force-quitting Camino, I got a screen shot of the site. The site was apparently located at

178.162.157.232

and of course I could not trace that.

I'd be interested to know if anyone else has problems with the Psychology Today Web site.

[Lostime]

Mmmmm.

178.162.157.232

General IP Information

Hostname:178-162-157-232.
localISP:NetDirect
Organization:Tower-Marketing-Limited
Proxy:None detected
Type:Corporate
Assignment:Static IP

Geolocation Information

Country:Belize Latitude:17.25Longitude:-88.75

person: Karpenko Sergey
address: Tower Marketing Limited
address: Suite 102, Ground Floor, Blake Building,
address: Corner Eyre & Hutson Streets,
address: Belize city, Belize
address: BZ
phone: +501 223 2810
fax-no: +501 223 3132

http://whois.domaintools.com/178.162.157.232

[pachyderm]

How did you get the information? I tried with my network utility but could find anything with a "Whois".

[Lostime]

Originally Posted by pachyderm

How did you get the information? I tried with my network utility but could find anything with a "Whois".

I hope the link helps, sorry for adding it late.

[pachyderm]

Here's the latest: I was connected to the Psychology Today Web site, using my Safari browser, and trying to read an article. The page stopped loading, and when I looked at the browser address line it contained a site at

178.17.162.165

instead of the correct URL for the page. Now I have seen this behavior at the Psychology Today site with two different browsers.

I have informed PT of these events.

[Lostime]

I have been on for most of the day and have had no problems!

Hope it can be sorted for you!

[pachyderm]

Originally Posted by Lostime

I have been on for most of the day and have had no problems!

On Psychology Today?

I see, in that Domain Tools site readout, that there are places to report abuse of URLs. Is there any point in doing that -- could they be in cahoots anyway, so reporting abuse would not be a good idea? They are in Russia or Germany or the Republic of Moldova...

Here's another idea I have -- go to those sites that appear to be the mischief sites, since I have their URLs, and see if I can get any more information -- screen shots or whatever. Since I have a Mac there is little likelihood of my getting in trouble just by doing that -- not clicking on anything. Sound OK, or NOT?

[FooZe]

My first guess would be malware hijacking your computer. I'm a longtime PC user, though, and don't know anything about malware on Apples.

[Lostime]

Yes!

No it does not help much to report them!

Most are sites that can be used to hide the perpetrators real ip address, by rerouting through a Proxy Server.

[pachyderm]

Originally Posted by Fool Zero

My first guess would be malware hijacking your computer. I'm a longtime PC user, though, and don't know anything about malware on Apples.

There has been a buzz in the last week about malware on Macs, but so far it seems that you have to get sucked in and agree to have something installed. Even then it seems the latest is not really malware, just something to collect your credit card info or something. Nothing happens automatically. I would be very surprised if there were really some on my Mac.

[pachyderm]

I just added an extension to Safari, called Ghostery. It informs you of things that are tracking you, including things while on Psych Central. There are three of them at the moment. Interesting!

Comscore Beacon

Google Analytics

Quantcast.

Nine of them on Psychology Today.

[Rohag]

For what it's worth, I'm currently having no trouble with the Psychology Today site <http://www.psychologytoday.com/> accessing it with

• Firefox 4.0.1 for Ubuntu [11.04 "Natty Narwhal"; Linux] canonical - 1.0
• Chromium 11.0.696.71 (86024) Ubuntu 11.04

???

[madisgram]

same occurrance for me, pachy. i have windows vista/dell with department of defense's symantec endpoint protection. it slipped thru the radar but my pc's ok.
yes PC can be invaded when we check "remember me" by screen name so we don't have to sign in all the time. suggest u "sign out" when u leave the site...symantec advised me to do so cause it makes us vulnerable to attack. no offense PC, it's not your fault..can happen elsewhere. that's why even when you go to a secured site and "sign in", always "sign out" too.

[madisgram]

Originally Posted by Lostime

Mmmmm.

178.162.157.232

General IP Information

Hostname:178-162-157-232.
localISP:NetDirect
Organization:Tower-Marketing-Limited
Proxy:None detected
Type:Corporate
Assignment:Static IP

Geolocation Information

Country:Belize Latitude:17.25Longitude:-88.75

person: Karpenko Sergey
address: Tower Marketing Limited
address: Suite 102, Ground Floor, Blake Building,
address: Corner Eyre & Hutson Streets,
address: Belize city, Belize
address: BZ
phone: +501 223 2810
fax-no: +501 223 3132

http://whois.domaintools.com/178.162.157.232

HACKERS using that address.

[madisgram]

Originally Posted by pachyderm

On Psychology Today?

I see, in that Domain Tools site readout, that there are places to report abuse of URLs. Is there any point in doing that -- could they be in cahoots anyway, so reporting abuse would not be a good idea? They are in Russia or Germany or the Republic of Moldova...

Here's another idea I have -- go to those sites that appear to be the mischief sites, since I have their URLs, and see if I can get any more information -- screen shots or whatever. Since I have a Mac there is little likelihood of my getting in trouble just by doing that -- not clicking on anything. Sound OK, or NOT?

NOOOO pachy, get out of site!!!!
also reporting it won't make any difference. i did it once and they said "we can't be held responsible..."

[Lostime]

Originally Posted by madisgram

HACKERS using that address.

I think it is more of an open proxy server being miss used, you don't need to be a hacker to do it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_proxy

[pachyderm]

Here is a screen shot of the relevant part of my browser window, taken during another attempt just a few minutes ago (6:06 PM) to access the Psychology Today Web site. I turned off my Internet connection and clicked OK, but of course then it could not connect to the site:

[pachyderm]

And here is how it looked immediately before the previous post -- this is the first time I have seen this kind of response. I clicked Deny. (Not sure if this is relevant to Psych Central. Anyone here have an in to Psychology Today? ):

[Lostime]

What happens when you disable the add-ons in safari?

[pachyderm]

Originally Posted by Lostime

What happens when you disable the add-ons in safari?

The two pictures, and most of the events I have been describing, occurred in Camino browser, not Safari. I have seen some of this once in Safari, but it never went to any page other than PT. It only failed to complete loading a page on the PT Web site, and showed the suspicious URL in the address bar.

The only extensions I have in Safari are

DivX HiQ
DivX Plus Web Player etc.
Ghostery (added today)

I do not think Camino provides for extensions.

[pachyderm]

Did it again -- this time 188.72.45.93 -- Romania.

I love mysteries.

[Perna]

I just went there with my PC/Google Chrome and my Norton instantly spoke up and told me they blocked an attack:

[FooZe]

Pachy, that sounds just like one of those scams where the adware announces that you have viruses on your computer and offers to fix them for you. Typically it scans (or pretends to) for free and tells you what it found, then asks you to send money to have it removed. No guarantees, either that anything besides the malware was there to begin with, or that it'll actually remove anything or even go away.

We discussed something similar to that here:
http://forums.psychcentral.com/showt...00#post1679700

[Lostime]

Originally Posted by Fool Zero

Pachy, that sounds just like one of those scams where the adware announces that you have viruses on your computer and offers to fix them for you. Typically it scans (or pretends to) for free and tells you what it found, then asks you to send money to have it removed. No guarantees, either that anything besides the malware was there to begin with, or that it'll actually remove anything or even go away.

We discussed something similar to that here:
http://forums.psychcentral.com/showt...00#post1679700

Fool Zero is correct, it sound like you have malware on your computer.

Malware for profit: spyware, botnets, keystroke loggers, and dialers

Spyware programs are commercially produced for the purpose of gathering information about computer users, showing them pop-up ads, or altering web-browser behavior for the financial benefit of the spyware creator. For instance, some spyware programs redirect search engine results to paid advertisements. Others, often called "stealware" by the media, overwrite affiliate marketing codes so that revenue is redirected to the spyware creator rather than the intended recipient.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware

[pachyderm]

Yes, I am aware of such scams. I do not think any malware is on my computer. Perna's experience seems to back me up.