Blocked by SPAMHAUS? Here's what to do...

[Turd Ferguson]

Greetings to all,

Due to unrelenting spam attacks and a whole bunch of other crap, we have been using SPAMHAUS in order to block certain crap from happening. So... what is the result? Well, if someone using your IP does some stupid shit, it gets added to the spamhaus list. It may also be your computer that is infected with a virus or trojan horse and has infected others. See here from the spamhaus.org website:

Removing trojans/viruses from your system

If you find your IP has been listed, your system is very likely compromised by a virus via mail, web, or other download. To fix it, you need to find and close any open SOCKS, Wingate or HTTP type proxies. Many viruses install open proxies and other Trojan Horse or "backdoor" malware on systems, so you should download a copy of stinger for Windows from www.nai.com, and fix anything it finds.

Also download and read this CERT document Recovering from a Trojan Horse or Virus (PDF).

So... if you are blocked by Spamhaus, YOU have to request spamhaus.org to unblock your IP. Note your IP number in the error message you get, and check it here:

https://www.spamhaus.org/lookup/

From there, if it is tagged, they will tell you what to do.

Hope this helps.

Ian

[Turd Ferguson]

I am bumping this up as I still get the seldom PM about this.

Here is the thing... if you can access the site but it says that you are blocked from posting, I want to make it CRYSTAL CLEAR that it is not us blocking you. We have not blocked anyone in YEARS. So, unless you have threatened someone, spewed out racist/sexist comments or something vile, we have no action in this.

In order to avoid getting swamped with spam accounts, we use Spamhaus as a spam blocker. And if you are posting from somewhere that has a flagged IP (like the Chicago airport LOL) for spamming, that IP is on the list, and you can't post from it.

Please read the post above if you encounter a blocked message.

[semicolin]

I got this the other day when my cellphone was connected to a Fido LTE tower. The amount of effort to convince someone at Fido/Rogers to investigate and resolve just isn’t worth it.

[pinballjah]

Happened to me on my cellphone as well. Didn't think a cellphone (Apple) could have a virus?

[Azatotht]

Happened to me on my cellphone as well. Didn't think a cellphone (Apple) could have a virus?

Someone else owned the ip before you and most likely got it banned.

Ips are not static on cellphones.

[tinyrodent]

This happened to me yesterday at home. Blocking by IP just isn't very meaningful - but most especially considering that we are already verified logged in members of MAACA in good standing.

May I suggest to put more security at the time of account creation (if desired) rather than at the time of posting a message? It's really frustrating to spend a bunch of time composing and THEN find out it's not allowed to post.

[Turd Ferguson]

Ok. So we are open to suggestions. But keep this in mind...

1- 15% of people fail to answer the security question... what is the name of the city in the site’s name. So to make the question harder may make it too hard to people. What can I say...

2- we have day jobs and lives. We cannot spend hours per day controlling spammers.

[Azatotht]

It isn’t that hard, click the unban button on spamhaus and confirm with the link they are sending via email.

Its fast and easy for you. Anyway beeing flagged by spamhaus may and will cause you troubles somewhere else. We once were unable to send emails to some providers at work because our ip was flagged...

If your computer is not hacked to send spam (and yes, this is possible), then you won’t get blocked again. But keep in mind that if you have been hacked to send spam from your pc, then you may and will be flagged again.

Bottom line, it is a good thing that you are being warned anyway.

[finchalex]

Anyway beeing flagged by spamhaus may and will cause you troubles somewhere else.
We once were unable to send emails to some providers at work because our ip was flagged.

If your computer is not hacked to send spam and yes, this is possible then you won’t get blocked again.
But keep in mind that if you have been hacked to send spam from your pc, then you may and will be flagged again.
Bottom line, it is a good thing that you are being warned anyway.