Is Private Internet Access injecting their own Google cert?

8 points by vicken 11y ago ↗ HN

I noticed something really strange happen today. I'm getting an invalid certificate warning ("This certificate is not valid (host name mismatch") while sending email through Google's smtp server. I decided to disconnect from PIA and send the email and, low and behold, no certificate warning. I reconnected to PIA, tried to send a test email, and got the warning again.

Anyone else notice this? I've noticed this happen several times in the past, but I didn't pay much attention to it. The cert in question is for mx.google.com

5 comments

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sharth 11y ago ↗

What is "Private Internet Access"?

wlkr 11y ago ↗

A VPN service, https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/

dangrossman 11y ago ↗

> low and behold

It's "lo and behold". Lo is short for look (archaically loke).

ammmir 11y ago ↗

would you mind providing some details, such as, the hostname you're using (mx.google.com doesn't resolve), the exact error message, and if possible, the certificate chain you're seeing?

we absolutely are not injecting any certificates or otherwise modifying or inspecting traffic.

(disclaimer: i am an employee of PIA)

vicken 11y ago ↗

Sure thing, I snapped a shot of the error window when it popped up: http://imgur.com/y5tQbTn

I was connected to the US East server at the time.