"Pardon our interruption"

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Level 1

67 points

"Pardon our interruption"

My wife has a 2020 Macbook Air, running on the latest version of Ventura. She tried to browse a popular retailer's website today, with the intent of making a purchase. Alas, when she tried to log in, she got a "Pardon Our Interruption" error message, with the following text:

"As you were browsing something about your browser made us think yoiu were a bot. There are a few reasons this might happen:

You're a power user moving through this website with super-human speed. (I can ASSURE you, that's not the case with my wife.)
You've disabled cookies in your web browser.
A third-party browser plugin, such as Ghostery or NoScript, is preventing JavaScript from running."

The link to a site for a support article providing additional information takes you to "docs.impervia.com"

Has anyone else run into this? Has her system become infected with malware? I've tried all I know how to do, opening up cookies, turning off blocking, etc: nothing is working.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Posted on Dec 30, 2022 2:25 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

mokantx Author

Level 1

67 points

Dec 31, 2022 12:59 PM in response to leroydouglas

Thank you for the reply about third-party anti-virus. I did indeed have Sophos antivirus on the system. I have removed it, restarted the system, but the problem still remained. So just in case, I then went and changed my wifi to one that is not protected by a VPN, and voila, it worked. I had already tried taking the system to a non-vpn wifi, but that alone didn't get the job done. It was only when I BOTH removed Sophos AND went off the VPN that the problem was solved. I'm guessing the VPN was adding a layer of encryption on top of whatever Sophos was doing that made it all go south.

Again, thank you!

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Answer 2

leroydouglas

Level 10

202,828 points

Dec 30, 2022 4:50 PM in response to mokantx

mokantx wrote:

• My wife has a 2020 Macbook Air, running on the latest version of Ventura. She tried to browse a popular retailer's website today, with the intent of making a purchase. Alas, when she tried to log in, she got a "Pardon Our Interruption" error message, with the following text:

"As you were browsing something about your browser made us think yoiu were a bot. There are a few reasons this might happen:

You're a power user moving through this website with super-human speed. (I can ASSURE you, that's not the case with my wife.)

• You've disabled cookies in your web browser.

• A third-party browser plugin, such as Ghostery or NoScript, is preventing JavaScript from running."

The link to a site for a support article providing additional information takes you to "docs.impervia.com"

Has anyone else run into this? Has her system become infected with malware? I've tried all I know how to do, opening up cookies, turning off blocking, etc: nothing is working.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

A google search turns up references to your "docs.impervia.com "...

ex. ref: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/imperva-security/id1479543020

This sounds like you installed third party Anti-Virus...(?)

Third party AntiVirus is not recommended— it typically does nothing but add issues to the macOS and competes directly with Apple’s own built in security:

macOS - Security - Apple macOS - Security - Apple

Apple Platform Security - Apple Apple Platform Security - Apple Support

Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls ...

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Answer 3

mokantx Author

Level 1

67 points

Dec 31, 2022 1:26 PM in response to Barney-15E

Well, that opens up another whole (but good) discussion. The same question can be posed, substituting the words Apple, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Dell, and likely about half or more of the antivirus companies out there, for the words "VPN company."

I don't have an answer, other than to suggest that ultimately, we all HOPE our stuff can be as safe and as well protected as possible on the net, as well as our corporate and home networks. The big question is "how?" Personally (and like many, I suspect) I can only piece together something in hopes that it works, and that those from whom I purchase (be it hardware, apps, services, etc.) are trustworthy. In general, I trust the Apple platform a LOT more than I trust Windows-based systems, but that's likely based on my experiences with

Windows, especially when it was a young platform.

I added a VPN router with VPN service installed to my home network, and then put most of what I use at home on THAT router. I still have a router provided by my internet provider, but it does not support vpn software as part of that router's configuration. So I run my WORK system through that non-VPN protected router, because my work requires I go through THEIR VPN site before I can access my work systems, and the two VPNs apparently play well together.

I may be wrong, but I still think it worthwhile to do what I can to protect my data, but ultimately, your point is well taken. The question I THINK boils down to that matter of trust. Do you have any better ideas on how we can/should best protect ourselves, especially those of us using apple products?

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Answer 4

Barney-15E

Level 10

123,740 points

Dec 31, 2022 1:48 PM in response to mokantx

Well, that opens up another whole (but good) discussion. The same question can be posed, substituting the words Apple, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Dell, and likely about half or more of the antivirus companies out there, for the words "VPN company."

Well, I pay Apple for my hardware and its accompanying software. They have no incentive to sell me to others. I don't know of any free products from Dell or Microsoft. The other two sell you as payment for their services.

I added a VPN router with VPN service installed to my home network,\\

Are you controlling the VPN, or is the "service" provided by someone else? Do you pay for the service, or is it "free?" If you control the VPN completely, then that is a secure alternative. But, all of your traffic still goes out through your ISP IP address.

because my work requires I go through THEIR VPN site

That is the proper use of a VPN. A company should never let anyone access their network from outside without the use of their company-controlled VPN. Even that isn't the ultimate in security, but it balances usability with some amount of security.

Do you have any better ideas on how we can/should best protect ourselves, especially those of us using apple products?

I don't buy the FUD used to advertise VPN products. If you have to scare people into using your product, you are lying. All of those evil no-goods out their scraping your internet traffic in bits and spurts when you choose to do your internet work on a public network don't ever have the full picture. A VPN provider does have all of that.

Apple now provides an IP obfuscation scheme you can use to hide your use of the internet without routing it through

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Answer 5

Barney-15E

Level 10

123,740 points

Dec 31, 2022 1:03 PM in response to mokantx

What about the VPN company makes you think they won't just bundle up all of your internet habits and sell them as one complete bundle?

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"Pardon our interruption"

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