Security Message

[JoeyG]

Norton recently "unilaterally" updated its program (i.e. with no input from me) and looks completely different - it's now apparently run by them online somehow rather than on my machine - a process of which I'm which I'm more than a bit skeptical.

One problem is that I have a license that still runs for more than a year, but I'll observe it for awhile. If I continue not to like it, I'll simply uninstall it and buy another AV program.

Thanks for the feedback so far.

[JoeyG]

I've looked through the settings, but I haven't been able to find that one yet.

[athenian200]

Good job figuring out it was the AV, guys. I never would have suspected that in a million years.

I assume your AV is doing a MITM attack.
If you want that, you need to import the AVs root cert into your Epyrus.

It sounds like Norton isn't cooperating with Joey's attempts to exclude Epyrus from the protection.

This solution might be more workable after all, since it can be done on our end, and it's difficult to control what Norton does.

How would he need to go about importing the AV's root cert into Epyrus, if he wants to try that?

[JoeyG]

My less-than-satisfactory (imho) solution was to ditch Norton and replace it with Bitdefender, which I found was universally praised on the web.

However, I see now that my research was inadequate because, ex post facto, I discovered that Bitdefender sees itself as an all-in-one solution, and thus 'commands' you to get rid of whatever other AV programs you have - in my case, a Malwarebytes premium lifetime subscription.

So far, this is a bit too much, with the result that I'm running both.

It appears that dumping Norton solved my error-message issue (I ain't seen hide or hair of it since), but I'm a tad unsure as to the actual stand of my AV situation.

Since the essence of the issue appears to lie with Epyrus, it would be nice if there were a solution there.

Having said this, I'm more than a bit perplexed as to why it arose after a couple years of using my Epyrus-Norton-Malwarebytes configuration. The only thing I can point to is the rather comprehensive update that Norton recently undertook and I which still can't quite get my head around.

My update to Epyrus 2.1.3 took place on the date of release, far before the Norton update, and it had worked flawlessly until the latter.

Hmmmmm, .....

[Moonchild]

Since the essence of the issue appears to lie with Epyrus, it would be nice if there were a solution there.

The essence of the issue is, as you have already noticed in your own reply, Norton. After all, everything worked until Norton decided to toss out a working setup for their comprehensive upgrade to their latest {expletive removed}.
They did a "comprehensive update" which most likely involved a new "fake certificate" for their "Mail Shield" which was not installed in Epyrus by Norton, leading to the errors when it intercepts and decrypts/babysits your mail connections, piping everything through Norton.
i.o.w. there's nothing wrong with Epyrus.

[JoeyG]

i.o.w. there's nothing wrong with Epyrus.

As I wrote, I've been with Epyrus since the beginning. Furthermore, just to be clear, I have no intention of switching.

My point was that the Epyrus dev seemed to indicate, at least the way I read his post, that he might be able to come up with a solution.

I wouldn't even waste my time contacting Norton.

[Pentium4User]

Norton is the problem here - at least it is part of.
Technically, it does a man in the middle attack to your connection and therefore replaces the cert from the server with its own.
This is something that can be used by attackers in the internet and that is the reason you get the warning.

You can import the root cert from Norton.
https://support.norton.com/sp/en/us/hom ... 9163618994

[JoeyG]

Windows says the certificate is already installed.

Whatever. As I wrote, I've already replaced Norton with Bitdefender. I haven't seen the error message since, so I guess I'm happy.

[RealityRipple]

UXP applications have their own certificate stores, unrelated to Windows' or each others'.

[JoeyG]

UXP applications have their own certificate stores, unrelated to Windows' or each others'.

'scuse me, but I don't understand the relevance.

[athenian200]

Norton is the problem here - at least it is part of.
Technically, it does a man in the middle attack to your connection and therefore replaces the cert from the server with its own.
This is something that can be used by attackers in the internet and that is the reason you get the warning.

You can import the root cert from Norton.
https://support.norton.com/sp/en/us/hom ... 9163618994

Right, but how do you import that into Epyrus? Their instructions only say how to import it into the Windows certificate store.

I mean, it's good to know it can be done, but the question is what's the next step after you have the certificate?

[Moonchild]

Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Tab "Certificates" -> button "Manage Certificates"
This opens the Certificate Manager. Here, you can import the certificate. I think it has to go into the "Authorites" tab. Select the tab and click the "Import..." button

[JoeyG]

Thanks for the feedback, but through the replacement of Norton with Bitdefender, for me, this case is closed.

[Bilbo47]

case is closed.

Oh good. For the record, as of reading only halfway through the thread, I had already decided to post "Norton [strike]sucks[/strike] is highly dis-recommended".

[ag0044]

I've had to go away and so haven't been able to settle down to resolve my problem.

From the look of it, installing a different AV may be an answer, so I'll try that when I get home. I'll report back here when I've done that, and whether or not those mildly annoying error messages still happen.

[ag0044]

I tried a different AV and that seemed to work in clearing up certificate messages.

Unfortunately, I then did something foolish and stupid which bombed my Windows installation, and needed a wipe and full re-install. So I can't make comment on whether it - a different AV - works long-term.

[RuudNL]

case is closed.

Oh good. For the record, as of reading only halfway through the thread, I had already decided to post "Norton [strike]sucks[/strike] is highly dis-recommended".

Norton stopped being useful after Symantec bought it. It just went downhill from there...

[SlySven]

You will also get the same issues with AVG/Avast AVs they too install their own generated certificate so they can do a MITM read/snoop on your emails - but because of that you cannot easily see the details of the original certificates that were being presented to the AV program as you just see the (not exactly fake) one that the AV switches to for the link between it and Epyrus.
https://security.stackexchange.com/a/204680/236562

[Moonchild]

See also viewtopic.php?f=24&t=14122