Ok, I really think something is up now.

I went to log in to my yahoo mail account and I noticed that one of the websites loading in the bottom bar of my browser was Akamai.net

I did a Google search on Akamai.net and they didn't get much positive feedback from people. There were mentions about firewalls detecting it. And then according to people leaving feedback on Siteadvisor they are known for spam, viruses, browser exploits, etc. One person said after coming into contact with this Akamai.net that they got hacked.

So as if I'm not scared enough I go to American Express' website and guess what the secure lock encryption thing says? Verified by Akamai Technologies Inc. Now I'm really really scared. This company which isn't getting positive feedback and is being associated with internet dangers happens to be on my credit card page? Now I'm scared that my browser has been hijacked or I've been hacked.

What the heck is going on? I know I can be paranoid sometimes but this Akamai according to others is something you don't want! And to top this all off I've noticed some strange issues when browsing. Just when I think I've gotten it together with my computer something always has to get to me.

Do you have anything Adobe installed? They use the Akamai service and it is nothing to be freaked out about.

A Little bit about Akamai:

Akamai transparently mirrors content—sometimes all site content including HTML, CSS, and software downloads, and sometimes just media objects such as audio, graphics, animation, and video—from customer servers. Though the domain name (but not subdomain) is the same, the IP address points to an Akamai server rather than the customer's server. The Akamai server is automatically picked depending on the type of content and the user's network location.

The benefit is that users can receive content from whichever Akamai server is close to them or has a good connection, leading to faster download times and less vulnerability to network congestion or outages.

In addition to image caching, Akamai provides services which accelerate dynamic and personalized content, J2EE-compliant applications, and streaming media to the extent that such services frame a localized perspective.
[edit] Primary domains

Akamai Technologies owns about 60 other domains, but the primary domains it uses are:

* akamai.com

(Akamai's corporate domain)
* akamai.net

(Akamai's content delivery domain)
* akamaitech.net

(Akamai's DNS server)

I have nothing installed by Adobe. I just find this incredibly strange how when going to yahoo mail I see something of theirs loading at the bottom of the screen, and then going to American Express and seeing that they're the ones encrypting or verifying their page.

What does the lock/secure thing say for you when you go to https://home.americanexpress.com

Why strange? They have several businesses and one is providing certificates for secure sites. You are just being a bit paranoid. For what it is worth, I get their certificate and it is registered. relax...

Ok:
A: Stop panicking

B: The certificate signing shows the same in Safari as it does in FireFox as it does in Internet Explorer 8 on my Vista machine.

C: Just because someone happened to hit content provided by Akamai and then subsequently got hacked doesn't mean that Akamai hacked them or was part of a organization to hack them.

D: Akamai technologies has been around for a LONG time and is used by a lot of content providers.

E: People saying "Oh my God, Akamai is the worst, you get any pages supplied by them and you get hacked" just don't know reality - it is possible to get hacked, you have to think, they are accelerating delivery of content - if that content is already malicious or compromised then you run a risk. Of course, another thing to consider, on a Mac you run a significantly lower risk as most of those trojans are geared for MS based systems.

Here is more reading for you. They are a legit company and have been around for a long time.

Akamai: The Leader in Web Application Acceleration and Performance Management, Streaming Media Services and Content Delivery

Ok, I have some more questions which relates to the strange behavior I mentioned in my first post.

1. A few times, one of which was today, I would click on a link to go to another page. Before it loaded the next page the cursor icon would flicker and change to the black arrow before going to the next page. If I restart my browser it doesn't do that anymore and instead the cursor icon is the white glove/pointing finger. Why exactly would this happen? That seems very strange.

2. When I saved a webpage recently it saved in a smaller size than it should have been. I saved the page and it saved as a bigger size file which seems like how it should have saved the first time around. Again, why would this happen?

1. Bug perhaps but without seeing it, it is hard to say.

2. Have no idea what you are talking about. Are you doing a file save as? If so, it is possible that you are not getting all of the page including the CSS portion for sizing.

You seem to have a lot of concerns recently. If being of the WEB is this much stress for you perhaps you should stick to a good book. I'm not trying to be mean, but stressing over every little thing isn't good for you or the folks around you. In fact, it sounds a bit like OCD. As long as you are not going to seedy web pages you should be fine. Even then, you will have to give permission for a site to install anything on your computer.

Yes, I was doing file+save as. The first time I think the page saved as a few bytes or KBs. When I saved it the second time because I thought something wasn't right it saved as 100 KBs or so.

I'm not trying to be paranoid, but these things happen out of the ordinary that didn't seem to happen before which scares me into thinking I've gotten hacked. And I know that a hacker probably doesn't want my recipes or my wife's sewing patterns, but hacking and identity theft are two things I never want to have to face. I have no idea if a firewall is enough protection and these things out of the ordinary make my worrying even worse.

Saving a WEB page can be hit and miss depending on the site as most are no longer served up with HTML only. In fact most are scripted and what you are saving is a static version of what you are seeing. Without the rest you may not get great results doing a save.

Frankly you worry way to much.

All right, if that one place is legit and saving webpages can be like that sometimes then I suppose those aren't issues, and I suppose maybe my browser could be buggy, or an addon for it maybe. So I'll try to tone down the paranoia...but one more question for now.

In your opinion is a firewall enough to keep the hackers away, and is there anything else you'd recommend so that I don't get hacked?

If your computer is behind any router with a hardware firewall (virtually every single one of them built in the last 3-5 years), connect your computer via Ethernet to that router or via wireless using WPA2 encryption and no one has physical access to your computer... Your concerns referencing being hacked are baseless.

It's a computer. There are going to be glitches, both by the computer and user error. If you have some problem, imho, you'll get much better responses by asking about your issue and dropping the paranoia.

If you are unable to drop the paranoia, would suggest you never put anything on your computer that you have any problem with the world in general knowing about. Issue solved. There is nothing worth this much worrying over.

I am not advocating giving up safe practices.

If you're on a Mac and connected to a router with a hardware firewall (which would be "every model sold by anyone these days"), then that's it. You're done.

Nobody is going to "hack" you.

Call the CDC in Atlanta and see if they've found a cure for Windows Paranoia Syndrome yet, cuz you've got a VERY bad case of it.

New2TheMac said:

Before it loaded the next page the cursor icon would flicker and change to the black arrow before going to the next page. If I restart my browser it doesn't do that anymore and instead the cursor icon is the white glove/pointing finger. Why exactly would this happen? That seems very strange.

Click to expand...

Sometimes I Post here in OS9.1..like right now..And that happens to me...NO one is trying to hack OS9. There just browser glitches.

Hey everyone. Like I said in my other topic I'm no longer paranoid, but something happened that I would like your opinion on. I turned my Macbook on today and in the downloads folder I have theinstall files (.dmg and .pkg) for Macscan and iAntivirus, those 2 icons were invisible but their names were displayed. I restarted my Macbook and the icons for those 2 install files were visible like they normally would be. In your opinion was that perhaps just a glitch?

Dude, why do you even have anitvirus on your mac? it really isn't needed, you're way paranoid....black helipcopters huh?

Enough dude! Not every little glitch or anomaly is evidence of a virus. Sounds to me like you're still VERY paranoid. As mentioned before, the antivirus software is probably causing more bugs than it's protecting you from.