It doesn’t seem to be a huge deal, but every few pages I try to view results in me getting this warning: http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd471/RachelRhubarb/20121115_115954.jpg
What’s the dealeo? I never get this on any other site.
I am using an unrooted Kindle Fire.
Exelator is an ad company – apparently something in the ad they are serving up is tripping your security software.
According to the warning you’re getting, the security certificates for this ad aren’t what your software is expecting to see and so they’re flagging this as possible malware.
Probably not malicious, just some miscoding/sloppiness on someone’s part on the ad side.
Sorry you’re seeing this, we don’t have any control over what ad servers do. Usually they get it right but occasionally they goof up.
Help me understand something here.
[noparse]If I go to a site, say www.AAA.com (this message board, for example), and the page contains a block with an href to somewhere else, say www.ADS.com, and this error happens because www.ADS.com has a bad certificate – is that what’s happening here?
If so, why does the error message say that www.AAA.com is insecure? (boards.straightdope.com in this case).
I get errors like this from time to time regarding one site or another (not SDMB), using an “ordinary” browser on an “ordinary” system. (Firefox on Linux, rather than a kindle.)
We’ve discussed a few times how you can block sites by putting a dummy entry for the URL in your hosts file. Would that eliminate a problem like this? Could one put load.excelator.com into the host file with a dummy IP of 127.0.0.1 to block this? And can you do that on a Kindle? I’m guessing that Kindle (and probably other non-general-purpose computers, like other e-readers and smartphones) won’t give the user any way to get in there.
[/noparse]
You’re in luck! Root Explorer allows you to edit your HOSTS file.
Do you get this message on any other sites?
Also, make sure the date and time on your Kindle are set correctly. If your system date doesn’t fall within the valid date range for that certificate, it will consider the certificate invalid.
Another reason could be that the FQDN (fully qualified domain name, ie, hostname) the ad is loading from doesn’t match the common name on the certificate. This would be a mis-configuration on the advertiser’s part.
The Kindle browser must just report a warning for the SDMB site, because it was encountered when loading an inline image from this site. I’m not sure why an advertiser would bother using SSL for a banner ad, but hey…
Missed the edit window. You did say you don’t get this on any other site. It is worth checking the date and time anyway. Is it possible you don’t really go to many sites using SSL on the Kindle?
Thanks. It isn’t really a bother, but I was a bit confused as I have had Fires since they came out, and it was the first I had seen that message.
I did just get it one other time since posting this. On /b. I do often go to other sites with SSL. My time and date are updated automatically and I do keep track of it as I have had several wonky Fires at this point.
Quartz, that article is for people that have rooted kindles with pre. 11/11 updates.
