Problem to download Zotero for Firefox

Virginie37

Hi everybody,

I can't download Zotero for firefox on the zotero website.
I authorize firefox to download. The toolbar for downloading appear. But them I have an error message "the complementary module was not able to be downloaded because of the failure of the connection to www.zotero.org"
What can I do?
Thank you for your help!

dstillman

If you go to https://www.zotero.org/ and click on the padlock to the left of the address bar, does it say "Verified by: GeoTrust, Inc." in the popup?

Virginie37

Hi Dan,
thanks for your answer. it say "Verfied by Bitedefender"

dstillman

OK, right, so you'll need to disable the (highly questionable) feature of Bitdefender where it intercepts your HTTPS connections:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/932399

Virginie37

Hi Dan,
Thanks for your answer.
I red this link very attentively. But I'm a big begginner in informatics. If I disable ScanSSL in Bitedefender... what does it mean?
Will it introduce a fault in my computer security?
Best regards

Virginie

dstillman

I'm afraid that question is a bit outside the scope of these forums.

The short answer is that HTTPS ensures that you're connected directly to a remote website, and Firefox requires that to be the case when installing add-ons. Bitdefender is actually intercepting HTTPS connections, scanning the contents itself, and then reencrypting the data and sending it to the original website in a new connection. They would argue that they're protecting you with this feature by searching for malware served over HTTPS, but given that it breaks a fundamental security feature built into web browsers, it's arguably rather misguided.

Virginie37

Thanks Dan.
Should I disable ScanSSL in Bitedefender only for the installation of Zotero and then reactivate ScanSSL?
Or should I disable ScanSSL all the time?

Virginie

dstillman

I would disable it permanently, if for no other reason than that it would likely break auto-updates for Zotero and other Firefox extensions.

Rintze

@Virginie37, it's like Bitdefender goes through all your postal mail, reads every letter, and warns you if it finds any junk mail. While potentially useful, they really have no business snooping around in your mail.

By intercepting your HTTPS connections, you can't be sure that a) Bitdefender doesn't send any sensitive information sent over HTTPS to their servers, and b) that somebody else isn't listening in on you as well.

dstillman

If written this up here: https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/addon_could_not_be_downloaded

(Thanks to Rintze for the helpful metaphor.)