Firefox Did Not Connect: Potential Security Issue: potential security threat (many sites)
Sophos seems to be preventing Firefox from making a secure connection to many legitimate sites such as www.Google.com, www.Facebook.com, and www.thefhguide.com
See screenshot here:
Whereas Chrome works just fine on all PC's. But one of our new staff members prefers to use Firefox.
Best Answer
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Here are the steps I got from Elder Skinner last week to solve this problem:
1) In the address bar, type: about:config - then press Enter
2) Click the big button "Accept the Risk and Continue"
3) In the new line that will show up below the address bar, type: security.e
4) If "security.enterprise_roots.enabled" says "false", click the toggle icon to the right of it, so that it says "true".
5) Then just close that tab and retest connecting to other websites such as Google.com or TheFHGuide.com or Rootstech.org
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Answers
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I haven't encountered that - YET. I also prefer Firefox for exactly the reason this glitch is showing up, ironically. I do not use Google unless I'm absolutely forced to for some reason because of their acknowledged collection of all data they can get their hands on. So I'm merely adding my comment here in order to trigger a response once there's a "fix" or resolution to this issue in order that I'm aware of what's happening with the issue. Thanks for raising it, Jon.
--Chris
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@Chris Bieneman Schmink @Ken Richins - NAO Tech Support Lead
I exactly agree with you about Google. I refuse to have them collecting and using my data for their profit. Not only that, they alter their search results, suppressing information they don't want you to see and promoting what they want you to believe. In general, if you are not paying for the service, then you are not the customer, you are the product. I avoid Google in search, email, browsing and anywhere else that I can find an alternative.
I have this Sophos/FFox interference in our FSC on all of our computers. It prevents FFox from updating as well. Elder Skinner was on with me about our MX611 printer crashes and knew just what to do with this FFox issue -- he did something to a setting in FFox I believe, which fixed it on the PC we were on. My mind was so full of printer crashes that I couldn't task switch fast enough to follow him. I expected to see it again on the next computer, but then he had gotten what he needed, and ended the call, so I didn't get the chance to take notes on this FFox issue fix.
Maybe Elder Richins can post what Elder Skinner did so that we can follow his method?
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In case you're not aware of it, there is a search engine that keeps zero logs and therefore will not share anything to any government agency (or otherwise). They're based in Europe where they seem to be tightening up a bit more than we are in the U.S. on personal privacy. The alternate search engine can be set as your primary search engine and I've got it set as my home screen on FFox. startpage.com
Startpage does use the Google search engine, but has an agreement with them to still put advertising returns at the top of the first search results page, followed by normal returns based on your search. And since Google gets to have the advertising revenue from those ads at the top, they've agreed to allow Startpage to anonymize all searches. Very nice site. (They also have a paid service called Startmail, with very private email that can also be encrypted if desired. I haven't tried the encryption - no need so far - but it's supposedly quite easy.)
I suspect we'll just have to be as patient as possible until the many, many changes have been completed (including using us users as the mandatory beta testers, perhaps even alpha testing 😉). In our FamilySearch mission we're seeing many other significant changes with the software and interfaces we're using - it's not just the public face of FamilySearch. Heck - I watched my calling title change three different ways just last week, and saw that I was a "Coordinator" for a brief time before that disappeared too. I haven't bothered to even look again - no sense practice bleeding with my head on the brick wall.
--Chris
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Yes, can we get someone-in-the-know to publish the Firefox configuration that removes the unnecessary security warning?
We get that in Firefox too. It has not been a highly-visible problem for us for two reasons:
1) Ever since the problem where Firefox access to Premium Sites was broken (and Chrome was not broken), we have encouraged everyone to not use Firefox.
2) We follow the procedure that our staff follows every week when we have these annoying, unexplained problems when no configuration has changed, but when there is problem with printing, accessing a web site, or accessing a record: a) try a different browser, b) try a different computer, 3) reboot the computer. It is frustratingly amazing how often this "fixes" the problem!
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As briefly discussed in a prior tech support Zoom meeting, we've found that the easiest fix for computers that suddenly won't connect to the printer is to simply turn off the MX611 using the rocker switch at the back lower corner of the printer. Then unplug it for at least a minute. Once it's plugged in again, turned on, and the touch pad screen is fully restored to normal operating configuration, go back to the computer that wasn't printing, and we've found it then has a high likelihood of printing just fine. Until the next time.
But at least we've eliminated the need to log in as administrator, delete the printer, then reinstall it.
Don't ask me how or why, we just were told to try that a couple of months ago by tech support after the printer failed to work following a recent complete review and "fix" from Elder Skinner (he went through all six of our computers). Everything worked just fine after that for about two weeks, until the printer again failed to be detected. The above fix has worked almost every time since.
-- Chris
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You also need to remove Firefox then reboot the computer and reinstall Firefox this should get you the version of Firefox that has the security issue fixed for use with Sophos.
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@Ken Richins - NAO Tech Support Lead
Since you did not reference anyone's specific questions above in your response, I'm wondering if your 3 April post above only refers to the security issue raised by @Jon W. Thomas and @David Peterson, or does your "You also need to remove Firefox then reboot ... and reinstall Firefox..." comment also involve the repeated printer offline issue?
--Chris
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The printer offline issue is a separate issue. However, we have seen it resolved by Firefox being removed, rebooted, and then reinstalled. Have not found the connection to the Firefox reinstall and fixing a printer issue.
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@Ken Richins - NAO Tech Support Lead
Those are two odd situations - either uninstall Firefox, reboot, and reinstall, or what we've found that works now several times in a row when our printer has gone offline and can't be contacted by the computers. We no longer have to go into Admin mode, delete, and reinstall the printer. All we need to do is close the print job, turn off the printer (MX611), unplug it for a minute or so, plug it back in, turn it back on, wait for it to fully reboot with a normal touch screen, and voilà - run the print job that failed to connect minutes before.
In one of the past few Zoom meetings a comment was made that printer issues may also be related to a firmware issue. Where do we find the current firmware version, and what should be the latest? If we need to update the printer firmware, how is that done?
--Chris
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Bottom line (for us at least) for fixing the security problem with Firefox: it required an update PLUS a "refresh".
I thought it was odd that the earlier advice was to delete the installation, re-boot, then re-install. What does the reboot do? Perhaps it removes stuff that couldn't be removed while in use?? (We didn't have to do any of that.)
First of all, I must point out that for us there was no security problem when running under Administrator, only when running as Patron. Originally, this was version 108.0.2 of Firefox. If you check for updates under the Patron user, Firefox tells you it is up-to-date (which is wrong). Under Administrator, it told me that there was an update available. This is what I wanted to do anyways: delete and update/re-install under the Adminitrator account.
In my first attempt, I un-installed Firefox under the Administrator account, downloaded the latest version (111.0.1) and then re-installed that. It worked fine under Administrator (which it did before). But under Patron, the same problem occurred. Obviously, an un-installation does not clean up all the Firefox configuration: when I re-installed, it remembered the toolbars, home page and similar settings from before. But not the extensions.
There is this concept of doing a "refresh" of the installation. It is supposed to return Firefox to its "default" settings. Again, this is not entirely true. Even after a "refresh", it still remembered settings from before. HOWEVER, doing the "refresh" is what fixed the situation. After installing the latest version (under Administrator) and then running the Refresh (under Patron), the security warnings stopped when you go to various web pages.
Finding the "Refresh" is not obvious. Choose "Help" from the FireFox menu. Then choose "Troubleshooting Information". On the resulting page, there is a box (upper right?) that says "Give Firefox a tune up" and a button "Refresh Firefox...". Note: you must have updated the Firefox version before doing this refresh. The refresh does not solve the problem unless you have updated to the latest version. Refreshing does not cause you to loose your "favorites" toolbar or home page settings either.
On subsequent computers, I found that it was not necessary to delete, re-boot and re-install at all. Only to update and refresh:
1) As Administrator, run Firefox, go to settings, search for Update, check for the latest update and then run that update. This should update you to the latest version (111.0.1).
2) As Patron, run Firefox, go to "Help" in the Menu, then "Troubleshooting Information". Choose the button to "Refresh Firefox...".
At this point, you should be able to navigate to pages without the security warnings. However, you will have lost the Premium Sites extension. This will need to be re-installed. Go to the Add-ons icon in the tool bar (or menu). Search for "family search premium" and install the extension that is found. You should get the little green icon, but you have to go into the extension settings and pin it if you want it to stay visible on the toolbar.
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