# Solved: a248.e.akamai.net



## referee07

I found the above, a248.e.akamai.net, in my Zone Alarm as a site that had gained access. What is it? It looks like some kind of snoopware to me. Thanks.


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## kiwiguy

Its a web server provider that many legit suppliers use (such as Antivirus updates from McAfee and others) use to host the updates on.


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## crone63

I was shopping at SMART BARGAINS>COM USING MY FIREFOX BROWSER> THE FIREFOX BROWSER WON"T OPEN THE SITE SO I HAVE TO SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM AND C LICK ON "CLICK ON THIS LINK" TO OPEN IT AFTER I MADE MY PURCHASE A BOX APPEARED WHICH SAID AND I QUOTE " YOU HAVE ATTEMPTED TO ESTABLISH A CONNECTION WITH "FC.TRK.SMARTBARGAINS.COM" HOWEVER THIS SECURITY CERTIFICATE PRESENTED BELONGS TO A248.E.AKAMAI.NET" (THIS SHOULD ALL BE IN LOWER CASE BUT MY CAP LOCK KEY IS STUCK DON"T ASK) IT IS POSSIBLE THOUGH UNLIKELY THAT SOMEONE MAY BE TRYING TO INTERCEPT YOUR COMMUNICATION WITH THIS WEB SITE> IF YOU SUSPECT HE CERTIFICATE SHOWN DOES NOT BELONG TO"FC.TRK.SMARTBARGAINS.COM" PLEASE CANCEL THE CONNECTION AND NOTIFY THE SITE ADMINISTRATOR> I DID RECEIVE MY ORDER BUT MY JUNK MAIL INCREASED AND SINCE I USE COMCAST AS MY MAIL ADDRESS IT ONLY TELLS ME IF IT THINKS SOETHING IS JUNK AND THEN I DELETE IT SO I HAVE GOTTEN MORE THAN USUAL> THE SAME THING HAPPENED TODAT WHEN I AGAIN TRIED TO BUY FROM THE SAME WEBSITE> YOU WOULD THINK I WOPULD LEARN> THIS TIME I LOOKED AT THE SECURITY CERTIFICATE AND IT IDENTIFIED THE ORGANIZATION AS AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES INC. AND SAID THE CERTIFICATE WAS ISSUED BY GTE CYBERTRUST ROOT OF GTE CORPORATION> YOUR EARLIER RESPONSE TO A QUESTION ABOUT THIS SITE IMPLIED THAT THESE WERE SOME KIND OF GOOD GUYS WHO WERE TERYING TO PROTECT ME BUT I"M NOT SO SURE WHO CAN HELP ME> INCIDENTLY< IM NOT SURE ANYONE CAN HELP ME BECAUSE THE REASON MY CAPS LOCK KEY IS STUK DOWN IS THAT TODAY IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS LETTER I FOR THE THIRD TIME SPILLED PEPSI INTO MU KEYBOARD> PRAY FOR ME AND MY SANITY>


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## TOGG

Akamai seems to be a legitimate business (some MS downloads are carried on their servers); http://www.akamai.com/index_flash.html I don't know about the security certificate, but you could Google them and see what comes up.

The increase in email may be the result of your dealings with the gift company (you did read all the small print in their privacy policy didn't you?).

As for the keyboard, you may need to get another one. I read once that somebody actually washed one, then used a hair dryer and waited for the cicuitry to dry out, but I wouldn't try it.


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## sekirt

Keyboards can be washed. Like dishes - immersed in sudsy water. Assuming the keyboard is not attached to a laptop. I knew a company that cared for office computers that cleaned them that way.  

I don't know about drying with a hair dryer though. But they should be thoroughly dry before using again.

sekirt


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## crone63

THANKS FOR THE ANSWER, I can at least type in lower case now so that's a good thing, isn't it? I just used the shift key successfully and after the caps lock froze on and I restarted the computer and then the shift key didn't work. Now all seems to be working well. More about the akamai site I yahooed them which is how I found you guys. I also complained to the Smart Bargains folks over the phone and got nothing but wimpy answers. But I know, or rather found out that fireclick, which is the security certificate they(Smartbargains) use is one of those that does cause the spread of junk mail. This however, this akamai is not their agency, it is an intercept. I have cancelled all my e-mail with smartbargains and all my records with the group as well. The point is, I have shopped with them for quite some time using firefox and have never had any problem and not had an increase in junk mail before when ordering from them. Just these last two times when the intercepts were reported. All I know is that I am going to follow my browser's advice and if it refuses to open a site, I won't go there. Thanks for your help. I will google the akamai site and see what comes up. Incidently, the other responses that came up when I yahooed the address had site titles that looked like arabic. I'm going back and clicking on them before I quit my quest. Thanks a lot guys. I have a daughter who is a whiz on the Mac and who does all my trouble shooting but she is on vacation for a week and my son who is a tech person too and works on pc's couldn't help me at all. I'm running a mac 4 with OSX. Maybe I should change my mail address, too.


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## TOGG

The link I posted was from Google but perhaps it didn't work for you? Akamai appears to be a legit concern, based in Hawaii, so perhaps the problem is with the sellers or their certifiers. 

May be a good reason not to do any more business with them.


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## crone63

What you guys seem to be missing is that akamai may not be the legitimate security guys for smartbargains. fireclick is the security group that should have received my posting on the site. akamai INTERCEPTED the legitimate security company when I posted my order. Where are all the good conspiracy theorists when you want them? Did I mention that some of the sites I called up when I yahooed a248.e.akamai.net were in arabic. Obviously, none of you guys are political science majors.


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## TOGG

I'm not sure how sinister it is that various arabic discussion forums appear to be hosted on akamai servers. If you Google the same entry, you will just find lots of entries relating to banks and other online businesses.

As for fireclick, it appears to be a business handling service, rather than anything to do with site certificates etc.;http://www.fireclick.com/about_fireclick/about_fireclick.html It is at least possible that they use akamai servers for some of their business.

However, you are right that conspiracy theories are more fun!


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## skubby

Akamia is a fast caching solution for websites whiuch have a great number of hits. These websites store there gifs and seldom changing popular apps at this cache hosting company. Numerous companies such as McAfee.com, Wells Fargo, B of A etc. post data and programs to Akamia. McAfee posts there DAT files at this location to support the user community in grabbing the latest DAT when a new virus threat hits. Several years ago McAfee ranked 23rd out of all websites in terms of activity. At present many companies would require 3 to 10 OC4 transmission lines. An OC4 is 28 T3's which is 784 T1's) to handle the volume of traffic. Many companies would not be able to stay in the .com world without Akamia.


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## dayfydd

About Akamai
Akamai is the leading global service for distributing online content and business processes. More than 1,900 organizations have formed trusted relationships
with Akamai, improving revenue and reducing costs by maximizing their online business performance. Leveraging the Akamai EdgePlatform, these organizations
gain business advantage today, while building a foundation for the emerging Web solutions of tomorrow. Akamai is The Trusted Choice for Online Business.
For more information, visit www.akamai.com.


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## netiskiv

I repeatedly encountered an invalid akamai certificate issue for SSL connections with the business banking application of the HSBC UK bank.

The flaw is constantly announced by various browsers on computers having already installed the akamai certificate. The errors reported by Netscape, Opera and IE go from "expired certificate" - today the expiration date was March 2007 - we are now May 21th 2007 - to unsigned certificate. On another hand Kaspersky security suite repeatedly reports a failure to establish an encrypted SSL connection on port 443.
Both Netscape and Opera special information sheet report that the page (loaded with an HSBC business banking url beginning with https) is not secure.
This is unacceptable for a banking application page that is supposed to carry confidential login information.

There is no way to report this precise error on the akamai web site. 

The error has been reported for the first time to HSBC 5 weeks ago with no result.

It sometimes happens for other web sites (such as Yahoo) but usually it comes back to normal after a short while.

Forgot to mention that when I implement secure solutions for our own clients, I make sure that all object calls are secureand that any data posted through an html page will be encrypted.


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## rahsisbumba

I am in no way a computer guru, but thought I'd pass this on... I am currently scanning my computer because I suspect I may have a virus or spyware last night. I'm typically ultra paranoid that way. ANYWAY, at the same time, when I went to my verizon account, I got this message for the first time, ever: I got the similiar message about the security certificate being changed. I googled both names that it said it was and what it has been changed to. The first one is this akamai name and the second was this getitnow name. Well, Get it Now is most definitely associated with Verizon. So, if this akamai is ligit, then maybe the website being used was originally using them then changed over. I just chalked the strange domain name error message and my paranoia with the virus up to coincidence. 

*cheers*


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## firmanh

I also noticed a248.e.akamai.net which causing me since then unable to log in to my yahoo and ebay as well. after fill in userID and password and then hit enter, sign up page reload. this happened repetitively. I can't open my account at yahoo and ebay.
fortunately, this problem does not happen at my office or elsewhere (mean only my local PC at home).
I have scanned with mcafee, spybot, adaware, superspyware, etc. but not solved.
registry cleaner etc by advanced windows care personal and auslogic bootspeed are also failed to locate this annoying (and probably harmful) virus.
please help !


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## noahtourney

I have a few email accounts with mail.com which I have had for several years. A few days ago, I received the same warning notice when I tried to go into one of these accounts. It did not appear on any other mail.com accounts. a248.e.akamai.net is not anywhere on my hard drive. I tried loggin onto the same email account with a different computer and got that same message once again but no other accounts. So it would appear this is triggered by the website itself.
Note - the email account in question has never been used to order anything and is solely for communicating with known individuals.
Akamai.net appears to be registered with Tucows.com according to http://www.drwhois.com/
Presuming that this was not a true threat, I went into my email account. I no longer get this warning. I'm not sure if that is good or bad news.


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## noahtourney

I spoke too soon. The warning is back but it still only pops up on the one email account and none of the others. Weird.


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## firmanh

I have communicated my problem with yahoo. I think they prompt responsively, even though still not solve my problem yet 
I have tried to follow their recommendations but unfruitful so far. Weird.
I believe a malware or hijack persists on my PC. I removed it several weeks ago but very painful, since I have to totally restore my PC to the very original condition when I purchased it. I want to avoid this last resort, hopefully someone can help me.
Below is last response from yahoo customer service.

Hello Firman,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Mail.

If you get a cookie error, or you're being sent back to the Sign In
screen with no error message, your user cookie is probably not being set
properly.

A 'cookie' is a small piece of information stored by your browser to
help identify who you are. Yahoo! Mail uses cookies to keep you signed
in to your account as you move from page to page. If your cookie isn't
being accepted properly, you'll be signed out of your account when you
move to a different page. This is probably why you're having trouble
signing in and remaining signed in.

There are a number of reasons why your cookie may not be set properly.
I've listed them from easiest to hardest in order to save you
unnecessary steps:

* The date on your computer might be set incorrectly. Since cookies rely
on dates, a computer with an incorrect date may confuse your browser
into forgetting about your cookie. To fix this, simply set the correct
time and date on your computer.

* You might have installed an application that monitors/blocks cookies
from being sent, such as virus protection software. If so, disable it
before you sign in.

* You might be behind a firewall that doesn't allow you to receive
cookies. This is sometimes the case for users connecting from a business
intranet with high security. To see if this is why you're having
problems, contact your Systems Administrator.

* Your browser may not be set to accept cookies. Most browsers have the
option of either accepting all cookies, showing an alert before
accepting a cookie, or not accepting cookies at all. In order to use
Yahoo! Mail, your browser must be set to accept all cookies without
alerts. If your browser gives you the option to accept all cookies, you
should choose it. If your browser gives you the option to show an alert
before accepting a cookie, you should not select it. Below are the
setting instructions for several popular browser types.

When making these adjustments, be sure to confirm any changes you make
by clicking 'OK.'

Enable cookies - Internet Explorer 7.x

1. Click Start and select Control Panel .
(Windows XP Classic View - click on Windows Start button and
select Settings and Control Panel ).
2. Double-click the Internet Options icon.
3. Select the Privacy tab.
4. Under Settings , click Advanced button.
5. Check the box Override automatic cookie handling under Cookies
section in Advanced Privacy Settings window.
6. Under First-party Cookies , select Accept .
7. Under Third-party Cookies , select Accept .
8. Check the box Always allow session cookies .
9. Click OK .
10. Click OK to exit.

If your browser isn't one of the ones listed above and you need more
information on cookies, please refer to your browser's help file.

Your browser's cookie files might be corrupted. Corrupted cookie files
sometimes stop supporting Yahoo! Mail. Try shutting all of your
browser's windows, and then deleting the cookie files in your browser's
directories.

You should delete the cookie files themselves, but you do not need to
delete the folders where they are stored.

If you're using another operating system:

Some web browsers have their own existing steps for deleting cookies.
For instance, with Internet Explorer versions 4 and higher on Macintosh,
you can delete the cookies files via the 'Cookies' panel in Internet
Preferences. For browsers that don't have that ability, these general
instructions may help:

Find the cookie files. To find these files:

1. Use your operating system's 'Find' or 'Search' feature to search for
the word 'cookies.'
2. This should bring up a list of the folders and files with the word
'cookies' in their file names.
3. Identify the Internet cookie files. It is important to differentiate
Internet cookie files from other files with the word 'cookies' in their
file names. Internet cookie files are usually located within your
browser's directory on your hard drive.
4. Delete the Internet cookie files. Do NOT delete any file that you
believe you may have created yourself or that you suspect might not be
an Internet cookie file.

If none of the above suggestions have solved your problem, your browser
itself might be corrupted. The easiest solution may be to try another
browser (if you have one) on your computer. You may want to reinstall
your current browser as well by finding the original installation file
and repeating the install process. As a last resort, you can download a
new browser, or an updated version of your present browser, from the
Internet. This may take awhile, depending on your modem's speed.

The Firefox browser can be found at:

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

The Internet Explorer browser can be found at:

http://www.microsoft.com/ie/download/

I hope this solves your problem, and I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Mail.

Regards,

Nelson

Yahoo! Customer Care

Get easy access to all of your favorites.
Make Yahoo! your home page:

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=38861/*http://promo.yahoo.com/homepage/

For assistance with all Yahoo! services please visit:

http://help.yahoo.com/

Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

OS: Windows XP Home Edition.
browser's agent string:
IE7.0: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE70, Windows NT 5.1;
MSDigitalLocker; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)
Firefox: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; .rv:1.8.1.6)
Gecko/20070725 Firefox/2.0.0.6
This problem happened when I log on to my yahoo account and ebay
account as well, both in firefox and IE since a month ago or so. It
was probably initiated during downloading updates and setting up my
laptop after I fully restored it to original OEM condition for some
reasons. Since then, I never been able to open my yahoo and ebay
account on my laptop.
Please find attached my laptop specification, screenshots you
requested and hijackthis log for review. I am awaiting for your
solution.
Thanks in advance.
best regards,
Firman

On 8/9/07, Yahoo! Mail <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hello Firman,
>
> Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Mail.
>
> Firman, we understand you have issues with IE7 that are affecting your
> Yahoo! Mail account. We're glad to be of assistance. To help us get
a
> better understanding of the issue, please reply with the following
> details:
>
> * Operating System you are using (ie: Windows or MAC and what
version)
>
> * Your browser's user agent string. You can get this by typing this
in
> the browser's(such as IE, Firefox, or Safari) Address box:
> javascript:alert(navigator.userAgent)
>
> * Are you able to replicate this issue in other browsers?
>
> * Do you have any other relevant information that may help us resolve
> this issue such as how often this occurs and what page you are seeing
> this on?
>
> * Please forward a screenshot of the issue you are experiencing if
> possible.
>
> To take a screenshot, simply do the following:
>
> 1. Press and hold down the "Alt" key on your keyboard. While holding
> down the "Alt" key, press the "Print Screen" key located just above
the
> "Insert" key.
>
> 2. Click the Windows "Start" menu and select "Programs" then
> "Accessories" then "Paint".
>
> 3. Once the Microsoft Paint application is open, click the "Edit" menu
> then select "Paste". If you're prompted that the "image in the
clipboard
> is larger than the bitmap", click the "Yes" button.
>
> 4. Click the "File" menu in the upper left-hand corner of the Paint
> application then select "Save As".
>
> 5. Enter a name for the "File name" field.
>
> 6. Choose "JPEG" as the "Save as type" option.
>
> 7. Save the file to an easy remember location like your desktop then
> close the Paint application.
>
> 8. Attach the file to your email response and include any other
relevant
> information. Once we've received your reply, this will help us
> investigate the issue in further detail.
>
> Once we get your response, we'll be happy to look into the issue. We
> look forward to hearing from you soon.
>
> Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Mail.
>
> Regards,
>
> Steven
>
> Yahoo! Customer Care
>
> Get easy access to all of your favorites.
> Make Yahoo! your home page:
>
> http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=38861/*http://promo.yahoo.com/homepage/
>
> For assistance with all Yahoo! services please visit:
>
> http://help.yahoo.com/
>
>
>
>
> Original Message Follows:
> -------------------------
>
> Mail-Id: 1186600208-7205
> "Name:" : Firman Hanif
> "Yahoo! ID:" : abulfayyadh
> "Email Address:" : [email protected]
> "Operating System:" : windows XP
> "Type of Browser:" : internet explorer, firefox
> "Browser Version" : IE7, firefox4
> "Issue Type:" : Temporary Access Error
> "How often this occurs:" : Always
> "Description" : Hello,
> I&#39;m unable to log on at my PC. After sign in (put user ID and
> password), the sign up page always reload, as if I did not key in
> correct password or user ID. I am always redirected to this page:
> http://e.my.yahoo.com/config/my_init...ner=my&.from=i
> I wrote this email from my college. This problem just happened at
yahoo
> and ebay as well, not at gmail. At ebay, I&#39;m unable to open my
> account there.
> Thanks for your help.
> firman
>
> "Information Passed In":
> ------------------------
> "from_url" :
> http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/contactus/index.html
> ------------------------
>
> While Viewing:
> http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/contactus/index.html
>
> Form Name: http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/bug_f.html
>
> Yahoo ID: abulfayyadh : Yahoo id from cookie
>
"https://amt.yahoo.com/amt/dosearch?.token=lI9AYoGEhcTEMy_3zGkMoDLkxuMK0
> 4tsB_qzmC9_1y4Z"
>
>
> Other ID:
>
> Browser: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; Imperial
> College; InfoPath.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)
>
> REMOTE_ADDR: 155.198.97.211
>
> REMOTE_HOST: ese-petsci27.ese.ic.ac.uk
>
> Date Originated: Wednesday August 8, 2007 - 20:10:08


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## noahtourney

I Spoke too soon. The warning ocurred again this last weekend.

Now, for the first time, I am getting spam at this email account.


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## noahtourney

Look here for Using Akamai hosts to circumvent SSL server authentication

http://www.securiteam.com/securitynews/6J00K0K07I.html


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## noahtourney

Now I am beginning to get multiple spams at that one mail.com account but none of the others. It is clear that a248.e.akamai.net is a redirection for a spammer.


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## rcaa

i had the same problem on my sbcyahoo email. i used a program winxp manager. i did a one step clean then i went to security tab. then click on privacy protector. then clean privacy. then index dat. hit find and then delete. then click on history and delete all temp files. then click cache tab and delete all. then click cookies ad delete all you don`t know. then close out that window. click the cleaner tab and click registry cleaner. scan and delete all. then close that window and hit temp junk file cleaner. scan again and delete all. reboot computer. open the program that was giving yo the message ad you should not see that cert message again. hope it helps


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## noahtourney

Thanks for the suggestion rcaa but I am using Win98 not XP and, more importantly, I no longer get the warning. Instead I am getting the spam : (


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## jfd15

have been getting this : "a248.e.akamai.net" dealing with certificate also the last week or so..

am using Firefox on Vista

i contacted Yahoo, as i only get the message when on their site, and they said it was 
likely a "transient" problem that would go away in a short while, so they didnt seem
very concerned about it....

EDIT: geez, i should have read NoahTourney up there, guess it may not be so benign


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