Stuck at "Checking if the site connection is secure"

[biostem]

I access the forums from various computers.  Even with my AV temporarily disabled, I am now sometimes getting stuck at "Checking if the site connection is secure", which seems to be a preliminary check performed by Cloudflare.  Any advice on how I can remedy this?  Thanks!

[biostem]

I've tried different browsers, cleared cookies & cache, disconnected then reconnected from wifi, rebooted, checked for updates, yet the issue persists.

[biostem]

I should also add that I can both play the game itself and browse other sites without issue...

[biostem]

Did some further testing - seems to be something with Brave, Chrome, and Edge, but Firefox works fine.  Any ideas?

[twozerofoxtrot]

Also seeing this.

 

Kind of annoying. I'm guessing they changed their security settings or something? Only other time I've encountered it was on another game forum where they had recently come under DDoS attacks.

[Luminara]

Ditto.  I keep two tabs (Chrome) for this site open, Forums and General Discussion.  When the tab with General Discussion hasn't refreshed in a while, it does this.  The tab is refreshed after the check, but attempting to refresh it again pops up a form resubmission confirmation (at which point i close the tab and open General Discussion in a new tab).  And it's fine after that, until the next time the tab goes to sleep.

 

Was about to do all of the stuff that I don't have to do now, because @biostem did it.

[JadeFalcon]

I only use Pale Moon (and occasionally Firefox for certain sites), but you can try using User-Agent Switcher for Chrome to spoof a Firefox user agent string for the homecoming forum domain.

 

If it doesn't already have the latest Firefox user agent string, you should be able to add it manually.

Domain = forums.homecomingservers.com
User-Agent String = Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:106.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/106.0

 

This image shows where the site-specific setting is located.

 

[Cipher]

I tightened up our security settings and enabled Under Attack mode on Cloudflare in response to an increasing number of attempted attacks against our infrastructure and website which both OVH and Cloudflare detected and provided warnings for.

 

Unfortunately, this means the forums will display a browser integrity check to all users periodically, and some browser extensions may block or otherwise interfere with the check, making the forums temporarily inaccessible for those users. If you're having trouble accessing the site, please check or temporarily disable your extensions for Homecoming.

 

I'll disable the check once things have cleared up again and appreciate everyone's patience in the meantime.

[Bionic_Flea]

Thanks for the update.  Safety first!

 

[biostem]

5 hours ago, Cipher said:

f you're having trouble accessing the site, please check or temporarily disable your extensions for Homecoming.

TY for the response & update!  I don't have any Homecoming-specific extensions in any of those browsers that I reported the issue with, and Edge is completely free of any extensions or add-ons at all.  Any other suggestions, (otherwise I'll just stick to Firefox until things blow-over, as it were)...

[TheZag]

At least i know that 43% of cyber crime targets small businesses now.

 

It sucks that it was necessary but im also relieved to know its not because something was suspicious on my end.

 

[EmperorSteele]

1 hour ago, biostem said:

TY for the response & update!  I don't have any Homecoming-specific extensions in any of those browsers that I reported the issue with, and Edge is completely free of any extensions or add-ons at all.  Any other suggestions, (otherwise I'll just stick to Firefox until things blow-over, as it were)...

 

I don't think he means Homecoming Extensions, i think he means to disable any extensions while browsing HC, or to whitelist HC within the extensions. 

 

Like, if you have a script blocker, it might not let you through because the cloudflare security thingy runs on a script. Or something, idk.

[biostem]

15 minutes ago, EmperorSteele said:

I don't think he means Homecoming Extensions, i think he means to disable any extensions while browsing HC, or to whitelist HC within the extensions. 

 

Like, if you have a script blocker, it might not let you through because the cloudflare security thingy runs on a script. Or something, idk.

Gotcha.  Either way, I tried Edge, which has zero add-ons or extensions of any kind, and I get the issue...

[Cutter]

Also seeing this browser check on Firefox, but it doesn't hang on me at least.

[Hyperstrike]

It's not hanging for me.
But I'm seeing the check at every first connection to the site...

As I hit the site multiple times a day, and I'm a screen real estate neat freak, I won't just leave tabs open.

[Lazarillo]

32 minutes ago, Hyperstrike said:

As I hit the site multiple times a day, and I'm a screen real estate neat freak, I won't just leave tabs open.

Even if I leave a the tab open, it's re-verifying me every once in a while.

[biostem]

Update:  Seems I'm able to access the forums via my regular browsers again.  TY all!

[Carnifax]

I'm seeing all sorts of weirdness with the forums. Constant "Checking your browser" (Vivaldi) along with weird errors being thrown when trying to post things (Something about a Template being iffy)

[Disruptor]

This happens when refreshing to check server status too.

[Carnifax]

Happens on my phone too (bog standard Android). Back button triggers ye olde timey "form needs to be resubmitted" page. Not nice.

[roleki]

On 11/9/2022 at 1:25 PM, Krimson said:

My entire business infrastructure across the country is locked out due to ransomware at the moment. It might sound funny, until you need to fill a prescription. 

Not laughing because of the situation, laughing because this happened to one of my clients in TX, the CFO opened a 'resume' and all of the sudden everything was encrypted.  Had to fly down there with 11TB of cold storage spares and diff it out.  Never getting those 72 hours back.

[Hyperstrike]

38 minutes ago, roleki said:

Not laughing because of the situation, laughing because this happened to one of my clients in TX, the CFO opened a 'resume' and all of the sudden everything was encrypted.  Had to fly down there with 11TB of cold storage spares and diff it out.  Never getting those 72 hours back.

I'm sure you can dry your eyes with the billable hours...

[MistressOhm]

46 minutes ago, roleki said:

Not laughing because of the situation, laughing because this happened to one of my clients in TX, the CFO opened a 'resume' and all of the sudden everything was encrypted.  Had to fly down there with 11TB of cold storage spares and diff it out.  Never getting those 72 hours back.

 

Oh HELL no.  WTF was the CFO reading unsolicited resume's for, anyway?    Talk about a social engineering 'hole' - if the guy couldn't air-gap HIS job, he wasn't qualified for the position!

 

[roleki]

2 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

I'm sure you can dry your eyes with the billable hours...

Lmao, no, it was MSP work; I flew down Thursday night, got to work Friday AM, didnt stop until 2 hours before my plane left Sunday night.  Not only restored the entire business, also unboxed, configured and installed a new VoiP system we were scheduled to install the next month anyway. Missed Halloween with my kids, ate vending machine food the whole time, my connecting flight was canceled so I wound up staying in Atlanta without any luggage, got back Monday night. 

 

My reward: if you get your ticket queue cleaned, you can stay home Tuesday.  

 

Unless your name is on the letterhead, MSP work is fucking awful.  It's great experience (I guarantee I've unfucked more domains than most domain admins have laid eyes on in their lifetime) but it's soul-crushing work that will leave every orifice prolapsed if you don't find your way out.

[roleki]

2 hours ago, MistressOhm said:

 

Oh HELL no.  WTF was the CFO reading unsolicited resume's for, anyway?    Talk about a social engineering 'hole' - if the guy couldn't air-gap HIS job, he wasn't qualified for the position!

 

 

He was one of those guys who bought a copy of Compute! magazine once and that put him on par with any IT guy.  Nice enough guy, but brimming with unwarranted confidence in many subjects.

 

Little side story... so I get down there and it's the Friday before Halloween weekend, so everyone in the office is in Office Halloween costumes, like, one cluster was dressed up like all the named characters from Wizard of Oz.  Everyone was in costume, even the shipping dock people, everyone.

 

I go into a meeting room with the CFO who caused the incident (and blamed his getting phished on the SonicWall I sold them) and the owner of the company, who I had never met to that point, all I knew is he was from Indiana and was the brother of the guy who owned OUR company. 

 

So the owner guy is wearing a polyester shirt that's open at the chest with thick gold chains, bigass gold rings on every finger, polyester pants, snakeskin boots and yellowed sunglasses IN the meeting room where I am telling him what I need to do to literally save his business that weekend. 

 

I finish up my spiel, and we all stand up.  He crosses the room, swings his arm towards me and kind of awkwardly pats the side of my face/head. In a thick Goomba accent, he says "This guy!  I like this guy!  You need anything when you're down here, and I mean ANYTHING, you tell Mike, and Mike gets it done."  

 

HE was Mike.  I start laughing and I say, what is that, is that Goodfellas?  Suddenly his face goes dead still "What the fuck are you talking about, fucking Goodfellas?"  And he kind of shakes his head at me and stalks out.

 

Apparently, he wasn't dressed as a gangster for Halloween, that's just the way Mike (an expatriate Hoosier living in Texas) goes around every day of his life.