Unwanted Internet Gateway

**JJDetroit** · 2008-09-09 04:28

I have a DSL line, and my XP MCE machine connects to it through a Linksys WRT54G router. Only the one PC on the router at this time. Just now I opened MS Outlook and made a mail pass. When I went to open the first new message, I got a pop-up window saying that to connect to:

a363.g.akamai.net

I needed to enter a username and password. I cancelled out of the popup window, although it took a lot of Cancel buttons to make it go away. Scratched my head for a minute trying to figure out what was going on, then went to Control Panel|Network Connections. Out of the blue I have a new entry called Internet Gateway, which was showing as connected. I'm pretty sure this is what used to be called Internet Connection Sharing, which I have NEVER configured on this PC. I'm running ZoneAlarm Security Suite, backed up by periodic scans with Spybot and Ad-Aware. What might be going on here?

**Leif** · 2008-09-09 04:34

>> ...When I went to open the first new message...

Do you only get the pop-up when opening that message? Or did it happen coincidentally at the same time?

If there is some script running in the email: Do you have ZA's email protection running? What version of Outlook?

**DocWatson** · 2008-09-09 05:27

Is there a typo in a363.g.akamai.net ?? If you change that to a363.g.akamail.net it takes you to Edison.net, a website andemail hosting company. Are you familiar with the service ??

**JJDetroit** · 2008-09-09 05:54

>> Do you only get the pop-up when opening that message? Or did it happen coincidentally at the same time? <<

I just tried opening the message again, and no pop-up, so it may just have been a timing thing. But I also disabled the Internet Gateway connection in Control Panel|Network Connections, as soon as I found it.

>> If there is some script running in the email: Do you have ZA's email protection running? What version of Outlook? <<

Nope, none of the ZA email features are enabled. And it's Outlook 2000.

**JJDetroit** · 2008-09-09 05:56

>> Is there a typo in a363.g.akamai.net ?? If you change that to a363.g.akamail.net it takes you to Edison.net, a website andemail hosting company. Are you familiar with the service ?? <<

I thought I wrote the address down exactly as it appeared, but I suppose I may have missed a letter. No, I am not familiar with Edison.net. The particular email I was trying to open was from NewEgg, just the standard-looking specials message.

**DocWatson** · 2008-09-09 09:14

OK. Just wanted to be sure. a363.g.akamai.net came back as Page Not Found.

I tried breaking down the address and a search for akamai turned up another company, Akami that appears to handle the social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. I couldn't find anythig about that as a gateway though.

**jscher2000** · 2008-09-09 13:22

Right-click the message body and choose View Source. Then search for akamai which is a CDS provider for major web sites (it stages static content on servers around the world to speed response and reduce strain on transactional servers). I suspect images are retrieved from the Akamai network, but it's just a guess.

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