Logging in

Phil_aka_Pip

I'm not sure this is entirely a Fretboard problem (see below for problems logging into BT for email, which occurred at the same time), but last night at home I tried logging in, in the usual manner, and got the Howdy Stranger message, which I do from time to time. No Biggie (I thought) and clicked in the Login box, whereupon my username and password were immediately populated and I tried to sign in. Wouldn't let me. Just gave me the Howdy Stranger crap.

I'm logged in now from a PC at work (uname -a = "Linux PhilsDebianDesktop 3.2.0-4-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.2.89-2 x86_64 GNU/Linux"). I have also logged in to the BT site from the same PC to read my email, but I couldn't do that at home either. I would give it the email address and password and it came back with

An error occurred during a connection to bt.login.yahoo.com. The OCSP response contains out-of-date information. Error code: SEC_ERROR_OCSP_OLD_RESPONSE
 
    The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because the authenticity of the received data could not be verified.
    Please contact the website owners to inform them of this problem.

The BT support people were useless. They kept telling me to reset the password. Then they told me to log in with Chrome so I told them that Chrome started getting stupidly slow 2 years ago which is why I went to Firefox and why I no longer have a copy of Chrome.

They've done something to their website (it looks different when you log in); my PC at home has NOT changed, either in "updates" to Windows [which never happens these days] or "updates" to Firefox [which are disabled because the last time it updated itself it stopped working].

Funnily enough, Outlook Express on my home PC can still connect and download email.

So, has anything changed on The Fretboard recently? Or will I be forced to wipe the PC at home and put Linux on it?

JAYJO

HOWDY STRANGER!!  Welcome to the forum!

Phil_aka_Pip

I am currently making a bootable USB stick (on my other Windoze PC) which I intend to take home for my old Windoze PC there. Remind me to copy anything I want to keep (from the old Windoze PC) to an even older Windoze PC that never goes anywhere near the internet but its filestore still works ...

BTW: lol @JAYJO

digitalscream

Nope, nothing's changed (apart from the new Recent Discussions button). That sounds awfully like a man-in-the-middle attack to me...

Phil_aka_Pip

What can you do about MITM attacks?

UnclePsychosis

Phil_aka_Pip said:

What can you do about MITM attacks?

-not using deprecated and/or outdated operating systems would help for a start. 

Phil_aka_Pip

UnclePsychosis said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

What can you do about MITM attacks?

-not using deprecated and/or outdated operating systems would help for a start. 

yeh, right, got anything constructive to say?

UnclePsychosis

Phil_aka_Pip said:

UnclePsychosis said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

What can you do about MITM attacks?

-not using deprecated and/or outdated operating systems would help for a start. 

yeh, right, got anything constructive to say?

Ahh, right. You've not actually got an interest in fixing the problem. Fair enough. 

Phil_aka_Pip

@UnclePsychosis Wossyer problem? As an avoidance I've installed Linux on that machine, natch the disk got wiped, so the problem no longer exists. But MITM substitutes the url you think you're logging onto with a different one - or at least a different IP address - so you think you're talking to the real site but instead you're talking to an impostor. The real fix would be undoing that false address translation, which must be happening on your own PC or a router close to you. That's the real fix and if you don't know how to do it you might as well give up with the smartass comments about changing the operating system.

UnclePsychosis

Outlook Express was discontinued in Vista: so presumably you were still running XP? If you want a PC that is secure, don't run operating systems that have gone ten years since their last update! That's not a smartarse comment: I'm just not sugar coating an uncomfortable truth.

I know fine well what a MITM attack is. The only sensible fix for a system which is vulnerable to so many attacks---both known and unknown---is to upgrade to something which is actually suitable for connecting to the internet in 2018. Seriously. Thankfully you have now taken that step   

 

Phil_aka_Pip

@UnclePsychosis ; I have to agree that prevention is better than a cure. I still want to know what the cure would be.

darthed1981

Given this thread is likely to be well read by users, and not taking sides but just for them...

Please, please for your own security, migrate now if you are using XP or Vista which no longer get security updates of any kind and are a malware attack waiting to happen.

Seriously consider migrating if using Windows 7, where you only have another 18 months of security updates.

Either go to Windows 10, or an up-to-date Linux distribution.