Author Topic: Could only reach the forums changing my DNS  (Read 15065 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline polonus

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Probably Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 33891
  • malware fighter
Could only reach the forums changing my DNS
« on: February 15, 2023, 12:50:56 PM »
L.S.

Even with a proxy forum dot avast com cannot be reached and kicks up an error.
In the European arena the forum site kicks up an error and is off-line.

Read there was kind of a hack performed on the forums on Febr. 7th last.

Someone here aware what may be going on? Had to change DNS to be able to sign on.

polonus
« Last Edit: February 15, 2023, 01:02:21 PM by polonus »
Cybersecurity is more of an attitude than anything else. Avast Evangelists.

Use NoScript, a limited user account and a virtual machine and be safe(r)!

Offline polonus

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Probably Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 33891
  • malware fighter
Re: Could only reach the forums changing my DNS
« Reply #1 on: February 15, 2023, 03:35:39 PM »
Not yet completely aware of what happened with these re-occurring error-messages.
Hopefully some-one can fill me in with some details.

Validation status:
Quote
Technical details:
Web server   BGP Route Prefix   BGP Route Origin ASN   RPKI Origin Validation state
forum.avast.com   23.72.252.0/24   AS20940   not-found
...   2a02:26f0:480::/48   AS20940   not-found

polonus
« Last Edit: February 15, 2023, 03:47:59 PM by polonus »
Cybersecurity is more of an attitude than anything else. Avast Evangelists.

Use NoScript, a limited user account and a virtual machine and be safe(r)!

Offline Luukjr

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 275
Re: Could only reach the forums changing my DNS
« Reply #2 on: February 16, 2023, 04:04:45 PM »
L.S.

Even with a proxy forum dot avast com cannot be reached and kicks up an error.
In the European arena the forum site kicks up an error and is off-line.

Read there was kind of a hack performed on the forums on Febr. 7th last.

Someone here aware what may be going on? Had to change DNS to be able to sign on.

polonus

I too am wondering why the forum is down from time to time.
I got this message today : An error occurred while processing your request.
Reference #102.4737655f.1676559351.2b5b5862
OS: Windows 10 Home
Soft: Avast Premium Security  / Avast Cleanup / Malwarebytes Premium

Offline polonus

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Probably Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 33891
  • malware fighter
Re: Could only reach the forums changing my DNS
« Reply #3 on: February 16, 2023, 04:34:45 PM »
Ha LuukJr,

That is a error-message and the blocking is caused by hoster Akamai for forum dot avast dot com, i.e. - a23-49-251-202.deploy.static.akamaitechnologies.com 

Microsoft in it's advice, says it might take some time before you might go there again without re-triggering that specoific error.

Maybe it was your IP or DNS reported falsely, that triggered it.
 So it is just a technical hick-up. The weird ways of the cloud-driven Internet for you.

Don't forget also cybercriminal forces are active all over the Interwebz
(like noName cybercriminals etc. etc. Russian Business Network etc. etc.).

Blijf veilig zowel offline als online, is de wens van,

polonus
Cybersecurity is more of an attitude than anything else. Avast Evangelists.

Use NoScript, a limited user account and a virtual machine and be safe(r)!

Offline polonus

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Probably Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 33891
  • malware fighter
Re: Could only reach the forums changing my DNS
« Reply #4 on: February 16, 2023, 06:46:24 PM »
It could also be abuse by a spammer (unknown to you), that could have caused and triggered avast forum to ban/block IP entrance to 
a248.e.akamai.net  a23-49-251-202.deploy.static.akamaitechnologies.com

After some time legit users may enter again without kicking up error-messages.

Especially when they have done anything wrong in the line of spam, scam & other abuse.

polonus
Cybersecurity is more of an attitude than anything else. Avast Evangelists.

Use NoScript, a limited user account and a virtual machine and be safe(r)!

Offline Rundvleeskroket

  • Poster
  • *
  • Posts: 508
Re: Could only reach the forums changing my DNS
« Reply #5 on: February 16, 2023, 10:18:58 PM »
I haven't been able to reach this forum for days, until 20 minutes ago. Same message as Luukjr. IsItDown and similar sites reported that the forum was up.

First I figured it was probably my VPN, but even on my Dutch ISP's own IP and DNS no access. So that Akamai ban seems rather broad, long, and ham-fisted.




Offline DavidR

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Certainly Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 88898
  • No support PMs thanks
Re: Could only reach the forums changing my DNS
« Reply #6 on: February 17, 2023, 01:05:32 AM »
Well I have had about four and a half days of being totally unable to connect to the forums only error messages (attachment 1) which were about a helpful trying to put a fire out with a bucket of petrol.

To make sure I wasn't going daft, I used my normal tool to check if avasts forum was down or not and low and behold it is still causing issues (attachment 2) in my go too tool to check.

I have no doubt this has something to do with the change to the Akamai distributed network, this would also appear to be further complicated with my browsers (Firefox latest version) DNS over HTTPS setting (which I can't recall ever setting).  This was set to use Cloudflare, now I don't particularly like Cloudflare and wouldn't have selected that (if I had changed the setting).  So I changed that to NextDNS as the option and I was able to connect o the avast forum.

I will have to monitor this over a few days to see if that completely resolves my connecting to the forums problem.  So it's fingers crossed.
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

Offline Rundvleeskroket

  • Poster
  • *
  • Posts: 508
Re: Could only reach the forums changing my DNS
« Reply #7 on: February 17, 2023, 03:53:45 AM »
Access was gone again for some time.

Via EU proxy everything is unreachable. Via US proxy the forum will load.

If this is Akamai it seems to be very heavy-handed in its dealings.
« Last Edit: February 17, 2023, 03:55:30 AM by Rundvleeskroket »

Offline polonus

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Probably Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 33891
  • malware fighter
Re: Could only reach the forums changing my DNS
« Reply #8 on: February 17, 2023, 07:19:52 AM »
Ha Rundvleeskroket,

Yep, Amsterdam-Akamai for ye. Re-routing from USA servers meant no blocking whatsoever.
DNS Jumper helped me out and somehow showed where the error (or outside threats resided).

Another lesson well-learnt, and showed me the importance of routing and DNS in order to be secure.
Also shows how important it is to have a good grasp of the English language.

Anyways thanks for affirming my hunches on this for me,

m.vr.gr.

polonus

P.S. One could test here: https://www.websitepulse.com/tools/results.php
From New York I get around in 9 hops.
« Last Edit: February 17, 2023, 11:34:26 AM by polonus »
Cybersecurity is more of an attitude than anything else. Avast Evangelists.

Use NoScript, a limited user account and a virtual machine and be safe(r)!

Offline polonus

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Probably Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 33891
  • malware fighter
Re: Could only reach the forums changing my DNS
« Reply #9 on: February 17, 2023, 02:54:54 PM »
If we consider how world wide DNS propagation works, it could mean you must pause as over 72 hrs between visiting a particular non-resolving website again. That is the normal update time and that meant under normal non-error world-wide conditions.

We stiil see users from Mexico now unable to get to forum dot avast dot com (Monterrey server).

polonus
Cybersecurity is more of an attitude than anything else. Avast Evangelists.

Use NoScript, a limited user account and a virtual machine and be safe(r)!

Offline DavidR

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Certainly Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 88898
  • No support PMs thanks
Re: Could only reach the forums changing my DNS
« Reply #10 on: February 17, 2023, 04:45:52 PM »
Well I was faced with the usual useless error message (that I attached in Reply #6 above) and this with the NextDNS for DNS over HTTPS that had been working for several hours only to fail the Akamai bull droppings Distributed Network cr4p.

So I changed back to the Cloudflare DNS and restarted Firefox and tried again, same dumbass error message. Changed the DNS over HTTPS, restarted firefox again, that to failed.  Changed the DNS over HTTPS from enabled to disabled, restarted and tried to connect to the forums again, failed.  Changed the DNS over HTTPS back to NextDNS again and restarted Firefox and back in.

This is becoming bloody tiresome, someone's ass needs to be roasted over a large bonfire. 
This cr4p with the Akamai Distributed Network has to be:
1.  actively monitored so avast is aware of all of the errors triggered.
2.  resolve the cause of the errors and be fixed.
3.  or the Akamai Distributed Network be canned.

As this solution which was I believe to address the damn slow page loading, etc. in the forums needs to be fixed.
Avast users shouldn't need to be DNS network savvy just to access and get some help in the Avast forums.

Finally, Avast has to have a Forum Administrator (currently 9) in more than name only, whom is active in the forums as r@vast used to be before his absence (about 3 months ago) and he wasn't an Administrator, but effectively a link with the Avast Team.
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

Offline DavidR

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Certainly Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 88898
  • No support PMs thanks
Re: Could only reach the forums changing my DNS
« Reply #11 on: February 17, 2023, 05:26:36 PM »
Doesn't look like the forums are any quicker using the Akamai Distributed Network 23 seconds to load a page.
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

Offline polonus

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Probably Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 33891
  • malware fighter
Re: Could only reach the forums changing my DNS
« Reply #12 on: February 17, 2023, 06:10:56 PM »
I could now finally change to my default DNS on the fly,
but then as DavidR states, page-renewal and -load is ever so slow.

And it is not Akamai Distributed Network at fault, but their client.

If you addresses Akamai's, there is not much they can do for you.
It is not their policies, again it's the client, e.g. the website owner.

Seems that being on Norton Connect Safe Basic server is fastest.

polonus
« Last Edit: February 17, 2023, 06:18:33 PM by polonus »
Cybersecurity is more of an attitude than anything else. Avast Evangelists.

Use NoScript, a limited user account and a virtual machine and be safe(r)!

Offline DavidR

  • Avast Überevangelist
  • Certainly Bot
  • *****
  • Posts: 88898
  • No support PMs thanks
Re: Could only reach the forums changing my DNS
« Reply #13 on: February 17, 2023, 07:40:40 PM »
But we the poor user are the ones suffering.

The situation should be being actively monitored by the Avast Team, after all it is their reputation that suffers with these lock outs and inability to connect to the avast support forum.

It shouldn't be the user having to get creative to find a way round this cr4p.

I never signed up to the Avast Slack channel, never dreaming I would need it.  When the forum is supposedly down or DAMN slow there HAS TO BE a way to communicate this to Avast!
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

Offline Rundvleeskroket

  • Poster
  • *
  • Posts: 508
Re: Could only reach the forums changing my DNS
« Reply #14 on: February 18, 2023, 02:36:19 AM »
Yeah I tried to see if there was a notice on the Avast site, or on Twitter. But nothing. Silence.

We the (mostly) Avast Free users that are here to help each other as best we can, are apparently second rate citizens. "Forum unreachable or down? F 'em."  :o