Is this site (GroupDIY) safe?

OK, silly question maybe. And let me tell you upfront I'm no good with computers. For a long time I deliberately stayed away from them, until I finally caved in.

Anyway, I've been runing into problems lately and every time it happens it's shortly after I've opened GroupDIY. For some reason, my browser then quits working (both Google Chrome and Internet Explorer). I'm on Windows 10 BTW. Nothing wrong with my internet connection. Ample backup space, too. But I'm no longer able to open any new site. Sometimes it gets good for a short while and then the trouble starts again.

So after a couple of days of misery I started using my wife's computer. She never has problems with hers. And guess what? I visit a couple of sites; no problem. Then I sart up GroupDIY and ... bingo. Her PC disabled, too!

So now with two PCs no longer working I decide to use internet on my wife's mobile phone. This is on a different network. No problems with the first couple of sites that I visit. Then I try GroupDIY and right after I've opened it I get a warning in the screen saying my connection with GroupDIY is not private and someone is trying to steal sensitive data (password etc.).

:-\

BTW, my own PC is working now, for the time being, which enabled me to post this.
Prolly won't last long.

I am very reluctant to open links posted anywhere on the WWW.  There be bad actors out there.

I occasionally  get weird certificate errors from ad pushing scripts here., those generally clear up after I restart my computer, which sounds like a personal problem of mine.

JR

I use Linux or win10 and don't have the problems you report.
On win10, I have AVG anti virus and malwarebytes running.
Maybe do a thorough scan of your system?

I have anti-virus (of course) and that tells me the site is safe.
This laptop I'm on is oldish and I will soon have it checked (like it has been periodically).
But the funny thing is my wife's much newer laptop got the exact same problem only after I started using it ...
And then when I got the warning on the smartphone (only with GroupDIY) I thought I might let you guys know.

In the upper left corner of your browser there is a icon that tells you the security of any site you are on. Groupdiy is not secure - meaning it is not an encrypted connection. Lots of fun stuff to read about encryption and cybersecurity, but the short story is bascially over an unsecured connection interlopers could snope - see what you are reading / writing. So you never want to type a password, banking details, etc.. in to a unsecure site.  Since groupdiy is publicly viewable, I don't see that as a problem.  Depending on your security settings in your browser, you may get warnings about this though.
Virus software needs to prevent malicious code from messing up your computer (I don't think an unsecured site can mess up your computer the way you are describing). There are always new viruses being created an deployed, so your virus software needs to be up to date and set to watch for threats. For example, a site like groupdiy could have an image uploaded by whomever, which when you view on your computer could have a bit of malicious code that infects your computer. That is what virus software needs to be guarding against.

Thanks, guys.

dmp said:

In the upper left corner of your browser there is a icon that tells you the security of any site you are on. Groupdiy is not secure - meaning it is not an encrypted connection. Lots of fun stuff to read about encryption and cybersecurity, but the short story is bascially over an unsecured connection interlopers could snope - see what you are reading / writing. So you never want to type a password, banking details, etc.. in to a unsecure site.  Since groupdiy is publicly viewable, I don't see that as a problem.  Depending on your security settings in your browser, you may get warnings about this though.
Virus software needs to prevent malicious code from messing up your computer (I don't think an unsecured site can mess up your computer the way you are describing). There are always new viruses being created an deployed, so your virus software needs to be up to date and set to watch for threats. For example, a site like groupdiy could have an image uploaded by whomever, which when you view on your computer could have a bit of malicious code that infects your computer. That is what virus software needs to be guarding against.

Click to expand...

Interesting,,,  in Nov Ethan made GroupDIY a https site.    https://groupdiy.com/   

I don't see the secure  lock icon in safari, but do see it with chrome.

JR

JohnRoberts said:

Interesting,,,  in Nov Ethan made GroupDIY a https site.    https://groupdiy.com/   
I don't see the secure  lock icon in safari, but do see it with chrome.
JR

Click to expand...

Hum... if I click on your link above and go directly to https://groupdiy.com/ it comes up as secure (using firefox on centos 7)
If I click on the email notification and come directly to this post, it comes up as unsecure.
Strange.

dmp said:

Hum... if I click on your link above and go directly to https://groupdiy.com/ it comes up as secure (using firefox on centos 7)
If I click on the email notification and come directly to this post, it comes up as unsecure.
Strange.

Click to expand...

computers suck...

JR

May be good to inform Ethan as this looks like it might be a bug in the site.

computers suck...

Click to expand...

Like all technology, they have their good side and bad side...
My professional experience with computers is pretty amazing, but I have an IT dept to handle the bad side

dmp said:

May be good to inform Ethan as this looks like it might be a bug in the site.
Like all technology, they have their good side and bad side...
My professional experience with computers is pretty amazing, but I have an IT dept to handle the bad side

Click to expand...

In fact I had discussions about the visibility of the lock Icon with Ethan back last November. Apparently back then I was seeing the lock icon in Safari, not now.  I'll ask him if anything has changed.
=====
My IT department is me...

I started out keypunching Hollerith cards so (Fortran) programs could be run in batches overnight on the mainframe computer (only 50 years ago). 

Computers still suck, but humans using computers for mischief suck far worse.

JR

> I get a warning in the screen saying my connection with GroupDIY is not private and someone is trying to steal sensitive data (password etc.).

Same as working with customers or lovers: what is ACTUALLY said?

Sure, everybody lies, computers too. But start with the literal words.

See below.

Not "someone IS trying to steal" but "could be viewed by others".

If you come to my house and use my internet connection, I "could" see everything in or out of your computer. A more treatening scenario is a coffee-shop but the kid in the corner has set up an open Wi-Fi, you connect, he snoops. Of course your ISP and every ISP from you to GDIY can snoop. NSA, KGB, RCMP also.

> Ethan made GroupDIY a https site

With https, the connection is encrypted. Snoopers see gibberish. (CIA et al can apply big computers to read it.) On GDIY the main HTML (including login and what you read/post) is encrypted. But apparently the forum images are not? And of course many user-post images are served from elsewhere. So you gotta ask: do you care if that kid in the coffee shop sees gibberish plus clear electronics porn?

> I've opened GroupDIY. For some reason, my browser then quits working

This is quite odd. I have not seen other reports like this. "Quits working" is, of course, NOT a real clue. What exactly happens? (It helps if you can "Enable Status Bar", which displays the sequence of connection: look-up, connect, wait, retrieving... but I can't find that just now.)

There is "DNS poisoning" malware in some home routers. I have _no_ idea why only GDIY would set it off (or expose a bug in the malware).

On another forum, the main files are one server and the style-files on another. Two people in Argentina report getting the forum without the style (everything in an ugly default font, some doo-dads missing). So a "border problem" can happen, where some main international router is not doing all its jobs right. Within the US I have seen a Maine-Illinois connection fail but a Maine-NJ-Illinois connection work fine- some box on the short-path was acting dumb. The internet is a mysterious thing at best.

Thanks, PRR.

"Quits working" is, of course, NOT a real clue. What exactly happens?

Click to expand...

Yeah, that was a bit vague. In any case, when it happens no site will start up (with max signal, mind), both with Google Chrome and Internet Explorer. I haven't tried Firefox and when I wanted to I wasn't able to download that (since the thing was disabled). Outlook usually keeps working, though not always.
Sometimes it starts with "can't find the page", but in most cases I get the following message: "Google Chrome is no longer working". And then I can't even close pages or do much else.

I feel a bit silly, 'cause I'm somewhat digitally challenged. And had it only happened on my PC, I wouldn't even have mentioned it here. But when I ran into the same thing on another computer and then got the funny message when I was on an entirely different network, I thought I should mention it, just in case. It's still possible the trouble is all on my end. But when too many things seem (!) to add up, I guess it doesn't hurt to give a hollar.

Everything served from GroupDIY.com/org/net is served over https (encrypted) since November 2016.
However, hot linked images from elsewhere (avatars and images hosted outside of groupdiy) may not be encrypted unless those servers use https with a valid certificate.

I think the browser message "your connection to this site is not secure" does the casual user a disservice by causing unnecessary concern. On a site that is completely unencrypted, you don't get a message like that.

In the future I plan to re-serve outside http links through https, so those pesky messages don't alarm users.

Thanks for chiming in, Ethan. 

I get

The certificate for this website is invalid

Click to expand...

emrr said:

I get

Click to expand...

Does your browser allow you to view thew certificate? See if they are talking about GroupDIY's certificate or some ad script.

JR

You should see something like this:

FWIW, I get this:

Gene