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Bitdefender reports Firefox contacting unsafe/suspicious sites

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 9 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

bg21
bg21

I use Bitdefender on a couple of computers. It gives me notifications that Firefox has attempted to contact certain sites that BD lists as dangerous. My question is why Firefox (whether then open or not) would be contacting these sites of its own accord i.e., not because I am initiating any search or other activity. Some of these sites appear to be normal commercial sites, but perhaps a bad certificate or something, like a Carribean airline, CapeAir (I flew a few years ago). Is there something stored in Firefox that would cause it to initiate an outbound attempt to contact these sites? Thank you for any suggestions/information.

I use Bitdefender on a couple of computers. It gives me notifications that Firefox has attempted to contact certain sites that BD lists as dangerous. My question is why Firefox (whether then open or not) would be contacting these sites of its own accord i.e., not because I am initiating any search or other activity. Some of these sites appear to be normal commercial sites, but perhaps a bad certificate or something, like a Carribean airline, CapeAir (I flew a few years ago). Is there something stored in Firefox that would cause it to initiate an outbound attempt to contact these sites? Thank you for any suggestions/information.
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Chosen solution

I don't know why Firefox would try to access that website if you aren't clicking a link to go there. If there is no action from your side then it is possible that other software tries to use Firefox (or the default browser in case Firefox is the default browser) to access that website.

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All Replies (3)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator

The capeair.com certificate has expired 12/21/2019 and thus Firefox won't be able to access this website via https. If BD intercepts the connection as a man-in-the-middle and sends its own certificate to Firefox then Firefox doesn't see the real certificate of the website (it would always see the valid BD certificate) then there is not much that Firefox can do.

I get a "Warning: Potential Security Risk Ahead" error page or a "Warning: Potential Security Risk Ahead" in HTTPS only mode and Firefox refuses to access the page. You would have to trust BD that is handles such a situation properly.

bg21
bg21 Question owner

Thanks, this is helpful, but leaves me with the question as to why Firefox is trying to access CapeAir when either firefox is closed or it is open and I am doing nothing relating to CapeAir. Is there some piece of data stored within Firefox that causes it to actively (without my intervention or initiation) ping CapeAir? Thanks.

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator

Chosen Solution

I don't know why Firefox would try to access that website if you aren't clicking a link to go there. If there is no action from your side then it is possible that other software tries to use Firefox (or the default browser in case Firefox is the default browser) to access that website.