Hotmail malware?

jenniewb

Trying to work out what's going on but I'm not really sure.


I have a Hotmail account which I use with IE but every time I try to view and delete any mail, I get a Microsoft looking pop-up telling me there is a problem with the certificate. No idea why or what for.
I can't do anything unless I answer yes or no (to allow whatever it is because there is an issue with the certificate) or I can view the certificate first (can't understand what I'm looking at tbh when I do view). So far I've only selected 'no' because I don't know what the threat actually is.


It seems to make no difference if I just select 'no' when being asked about the certificate but when I'm getting this pop-up every time I delete an email regardless of the email, it's really annoying.


I don't get this error when using IE to view any other site, nor do I get this issue when using Hotmail on Chrome. Am running a Malware scan but so far I'm not sure what is going on or what to do about it. Does anyone have any suggestions to stopping the pop-ups?

debitcardmayhem

Quick question is the date and time correct on your pc?

jenniewb

As I type it's reading 19:29 and 04/12/2015 which as far as I know is correct

jenniewb

Just typing out what the pop-up says (in case it helps explain anything)
I first get a pop-up reading this:






Security Alert





The identity of this website or the integrity of this connection cannot be verified





The security certificate if from a trusted certifying authority





The certificate is valid





The name on the certificate is invalid or does not match the name of the site





Do you want to proceed?





(Yes) (No) (View Certificate)






Then if I click NO the pop-up vanishes but as soon as I try to delete an email it appears again. I can't move the page or even move to view another open tab or change the web page until I choose an option and so far have only selected No.


I tried viewing the certificate, the first page reads the following:




Ensures Identity of a Remote Computer








Certificate Issues to: a248.e.akamai.net


Issued By: Verizon Akamai SureServer CA G14-SHA2


Valid From 27/08/2015 to 27/08/2016








Issue Statement


A Website wants to open web content using this program on your computer





Name: Microsoft Windows


Publisher: Microsoft Corporation




If anyone has any suggestions....I'm still running a Microsoft Malware scan but it's been about 2 hours now and so far is not showing anything. Is there anything else I could be scanning after this if it does show up that everything is fine?

jenniewb

Just tried to contact Microsoft who say they don't deal with Internet Explorer. I am not sure if the issue is IE or if it's Windows but they seem like they want to hang up as soon as possible and just told me to search Answerdesk.microsoft which gave me their phone number....




Am going to try uninstalling and reinstalling, fingers crossed this works.

jenniewb

OK I'm going to update on this in case it helps anyone (though it would appear no one else on here has the same issue).

According to others it is an issue affecting Hotmail when used with I.E and is to do with Microsoft rather than the site being infected (as it works fine on Chrome and on Firefox). I'm guessing they will need to update something to fix the error. I did phone Microsoft (yep, it is possible to speak to someone!) they seemed to think I had a virus but being that I've now run two tests and a Malware check and nothing has shown up and that someone else I spoke with has experienced this same issue on their work computer and home computer when trying to access their Hotmail account (yet is fine for me/everyone when viewing non-Microsoft based email accounts or using different browsers) I'm going to assume my computer is fine (it is otherwise working normally) and there seems nothing I can do to fix this anyway.

(Just in case anyone is in the same boat anyway.)

debitcardmayhem

Just out of interest then, which version of Windows and is it up to date in respect of updates ?

forgotmyname

Using AVAST AntiVirus by any chance?

I had to add the avast security certificate to thunderbird for a use the other day.

jenniewb

I have been using Windows 10 and the latest version of IE (are we on 11 at the moment?). I've had Windows 10 upgraded now for over a month and this issue has only started today so I'm fairly sure it's not a Windows 10 upgrade issue.


RE: Virus protection; I was relying on the protection Windows/Microsoft boasted about. I remember asking on the boards here what others were using as I'd just finished using Norton 360 for 2 years (ended this in June). The general conscientious was that Microsoft Windows offered enough protection and so I went with this. I regularly check for updates and any issues. I've got Malwarebites installed but did another check with Microsoft's own malware tool, neither showed anything up.


Turns out another relative has this issue too and has had this issue on their work computer. We're very different people and it's very unlikely we'd be visiting the same websites (and especially not for him at work) so I'm not sure I'm sure it is a virus or malware if not only does not show on my scans, but it hasn't been picked up by his virus protection or the virus protection in his work place. Maybe its a technical glitch with Microsoft?

jenniewb

I think what concerned me was that it stated the certificate did not match who it said it came from (the address being the issue). It wasn't something which looked wise to allow if the final message when checking the certificate warned me that a program which had addresses which didn't match (so potentially had given false information to obtain the certificate) wanted to access my computer.


I've since tried to use Hotmail again and it all seems fine. No updates or anything since. All I did was leave the computer to sleep whilst I got on with housework and when I tried to use Hotmail again, the same error messages were not there. Odd! I'm assuming there were no updates since I turned off the PC as the computer normally logs me out after doing this and I had still been logged in. Still don't really understand what happened but just glad I don't have some sort of virus.