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Kudos0

Norton unsafe site alert but never visited

Hi, on my iPad it happened twice that Norton alerted me about some unsafe site, but I have never visited them. How is it possible? In the report I couldn’t find any information about which app visited them or when.
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Kudos1 Estadisticas

Re: Norton unsafe site alert but never visited

You are welcome. And thanks to the URL you provided, I was able to experience the messages you were seeing. And it did prove my suggestion that it must be some ads being blocked. In this case the web site did load. Just the ads were blocked. If the whole site was malicious, the site would probably not get loaded.

I asked about the VPN, because some sites may not work correctly when a VPN is active. Just wanted to eliminate that cause.

Respuestas

Kudos0

Re: Norton unsafe site alert but never visited

Without more information, it sounds like there might have been a browser redirect on a web page you were on that was blocked by Norton.

If you were not on the web at the time, it could be some app or game that tried to access the internet. Many apps use ad services that may have bad ads that would get blocked by Norton.

Kudos0

Re: Norton unsafe site alert but never visited

Thanks for your response. Isn’t there a way of know where did the threat come from in the Norton app?
Kudos0

Re: Norton unsafe site alert but never visited

The 360 iOS does not have any user accessible logs. So unless you can see any information at the time that the site is flagged there is not much you can do. 

Hopefully, the message comes up in real time and you can tell from what you are doing at that time where the issue is.

Kudos0

Re: Norton unsafe site alert but never visited

It came up while I was on Safari. To be precise, if I remember correctly, when I was opening CoinDesk (the website)
Kudos0

Re: Norton unsafe site alert but never visited

Just happened again. I simply opened the Surfshark app and it came out with an alert on a website I have never visited
Kudos0

Re: Norton unsafe site alert but never visited

Then I go back to my comment about some malformed ad on the site you were visiting that was trying to redirect you to a possibly unsafe site. That would explain why you do not recognise the site name because you did not specifically try to go there.

Norton did it's job. 

You could install an ad blocker app to help stop all ads from trying to load. 

Kudos0

Re: Norton unsafe site alert but never visited

Ok Thanks, what about the case where I was simply opening an app (Surfshark specifically)?
Kudos0

Re: Norton unsafe site alert but never visited

I take it that the app is accessing the internet. Without checking that app, I cannot say what it may be trying to access. I have to go out just now, but will try installing Surfshark when I get back.

Kudos0

Re: Norton unsafe site alert but never visited

I tried installing Surfshark VPN, but as I do not have an account, I could not test anything.

When you opened Surfshark, was your Safari already open? 

If you could get a screenshot of the warning message, or at least the exact wording, including the web site noted, it would be a great help diagnosing this. Instructions to post screenshots can be found here
https://community.norton.com/forums/how-post-image-forums-0

Have you noticed any specific web site you are viewing when these messages come up?

Kudos0

Re: Norton unsafe site alert but never visited

Didn’t notice anything specific. Next time I’ll take note of the website reported by Norton, thanks
Kudos0

Re: Norton unsafe site alert but never visited

Hi, it happened again. This time, Surfshark is not present since I deleted it (I use the Norton VPN already). I entered the website of Crunchbase (the well known funding platform) and I got the message of the dangerous website found. The message was related to the URL cbxmarketing dot wpenginepowered dot com, and port 443. I tried to enter again Crunchbase and I got the same alert with the same URL. Is it related to some adds or stuff like that?
Kudos0

Re: Norton unsafe site alert but never visited

I think so. It seems that entering the crunchbase website triggers the unsafe websites you mentioned which however are luckily detected/blocked by Norton, so you're safe.

Kudos0

Re: Norton unsafe site alert but never visited

A quick search for 'cbmarketing' gave this description.

"CB Marketing works with clients to maximize their brand awareness and identity through social media marketing. Our clients achieve not only their immediate goals but also their long-term strategic objectives and grow to their full potential. Through branding, consulting and marketing we have helped many business owners increase website traffic, target their ideal audience, have high search engine rankings, and develop meaningful relationships with their potential clients."

So that does sound like some marketing tracking feature on the web site. 

The wpenginepowered is related to Word Press that is used to help create web sites.

Have you tried accessing that site with the VPN on and off? 

Kudos0

Re: Norton unsafe site alert but never visited

Hi, thank you for your responses. Sorry for the ignorance, may I know why the VPN should matter with this?
Solución aceptada
Kudos1 Estadisticas

Re: Norton unsafe site alert but never visited

You are welcome. And thanks to the URL you provided, I was able to experience the messages you were seeing. And it did prove my suggestion that it must be some ads being blocked. In this case the web site did load. Just the ads were blocked. If the whole site was malicious, the site would probably not get loaded.

I asked about the VPN, because some sites may not work correctly when a VPN is active. Just wanted to eliminate that cause.

Kudos0

Re: Norton unsafe site alert but never visited

I entered crunchbase dot com and while the site loaded fine a Norton pop up warning popped up for cbxmarketing dot wpenginepowered dot com, and port 443. However it has nothing to do with ads blocking. In fact the site cbxmarketing dot wpenginepowered dot com is malicious and Norton is blocking it. It's as I assumed above in this thread - entering the crunchbase website triggers the malicious website which is detected/blocked by Norton. This is the reason for Norton's pop-up warning.

Kudos0

Re: Norton unsafe site alert but never visited

How can it be triggered by Crunchbase if not as an ad? Sorry again for the ignorance
Kudos0

Re: Norton unsafe site alert but never visited

OK if we call anything that appears unwanted when entering a website as advertising then it is an ad. But it doesn't necessarily have to be an ad. Whatever it is (ad, malicious code etc.) you're safe thanks to Norton and that's matter.

Kudos0

Re: Norton unsafe site alert but never visited

Generally, the only code that runs on a web site that would automatically direct you to another website is going to be ads. There can be other Malicious code on a web site, but Norton would block the whole page then.

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