What you need to know about IP address blacklisting?

An IP address blacklisted is an undesirable situation for any internet administrator to be in. The effects are far-reaching, so solutions have been created to combat this global plague. But why is the IP address blacklisted? What are the effects? How can you prevent this with a trusted hosting company and SSL certificate? And how do you get off the blacklist? These are all anxious questions for which information will be provided to answer them.

Is your IP Address Blacklisted? What is that?

It is a list of IP addresses or domains that are known sources of spam; Often referred to as Domain Name System Blacklist (DNSBL). The tech built on top of DNS and most message transport agents – MTAs can configure to reject or flag messages that have been sent from a blacklisted IP. It is important to remember that DNSBL is a medium and not a specific list or policy. In this context, the system refers to the criteria that a DNSBL applies to decide which senders should be blacklisted and which should not. The plan also includes standards for delisting and the process of communicating with blacklisted senders.

Blacklisting occurs for any reason, usually when there is a suspicion of sending spam to an IP address. Continuously blacklisting will affect your IP reputation because your IP address will be recognized as a regular source of spam. The IP owner falls outside the IP address they are responsible for, so preventing spam is essential to avoid a reputation for spam behavior.

Effects of an IP Address Blacklisted

Understanding the effects or symptoms of an IP address blacklisted will give you a keen eye to quickly identify this happening. Can you imagine how great the fallout between your business operations and customers would be with your IP address blacklisted? Well, imagine the chaos under the following circumstances:

• All communications coming from your IP address bounce – This is a major indicator for Blacklisted IPs. For a company relying greatly on email marketing to a high volume of customers, this can be terrifying as it reduces your effectiveness.
• All communications coming from your IP address are sent as spam – Which is another major indicator. No one likes spam messages and we often ignore or report them.
• The DNSBLs cause a loss of revenue when a website or email is down.

What are the reasons for IP getting blacklisted?

There are several reasons for your IP address on a blacklisted list. Your IP may be listed on only one blacklist or may be contained on multiple blacklists as well. Each IP blacklist is maintained separately and is not controlled by a central source. Each may have different standards for listing/delimiting IP addresses.

If your IP address is blacklisted, it does not mean that there is a reason for concern. Sometimes it automatically adds any IP address assigned through DHCP. DHCP IP addresses are primarily how almost all residential connections are connected to the Internet. Business accounts are likely to be assigned static IP addresses.

We do not maintain a blacklist, but here are the main reasons why your IP Address may be blacklisted. Virus, Malware, Spam, or any other malicious activity. If you have found a virus or malware and your computer is continually pinging or trying to communicate with other computers. You are bound to hit the network where the administrator will see your ‘attack,’ block your IP address, and report accordingly. If you send spam or run a mail server that is not configured correctly it allows spam to send. To clarify, that IP address gets blacklisted.

If you have your DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) IP address and you are not a spammer and do not have a virus, then it is possible that the person who had your IP address before you were infected by the virus or was a spammer. Only the ISP knows who had the IP address before you specified it. You may not have done anything wrong.

How to prevent the IP address from blacklisting?

You can follow the steps to avoid getting blacklisted once again after taking all the necessary steps to remove yourself from the blacklist.

• Keep a maintained opt-in list: These lists can be helpful. It takes a lot of time to be popular, but this list can surely help you from being blacklisted. Opt-in lists prevent users from being bombarded with content that they have not subscribed to or permitted to.
• Remove those emails from the lists that have already bounced back your email or if your emails are labeled as undelivered. The more one tries to email these addresses, the more chances of getting blacklisted increases.
• Perform regular corrections so that the chance of sending emails repeatedly to the sites where your emails get bounced back often lessens and is ultimately removed.
• Verify email addresses: Utilize email verification tools to ensure that their emails are authentic. Verifying an email through these services ensures you do not open any fraudulent links and prevents your device from virus and malware attacks.
• Importance of VPN service: A virtual private network service is an effective way to deal with blacklisting. This network assigns you a virtual IP address different from the original work allowing you to work with a different IP address to resume your work.

How to Fix

It is possible to get off a blacklist for most DNSBL within 24 hours. This happens when the IP address operator confirms a solution to the problem. The criteria for listing an IP address differ from DNSBL to DNSBL, as such, the requirements for de-listing are specific to the list you have been added to. You can check your IP address on the DNSBL website.

Most blacklist databases will give you general listing reasons but not the specific email addresses connected to the blacklisted IP addresses. On the other hand, when you do not know what the issue is and before you make contact to de-list, try to ensure the following are done first:

• Scan computers and devices you connect to the internet for malware and viruses.
• Reach out to those using your connection by inquiring: whether there is a large number of emails sent out that may be considered spam? Or whether someone is repeating a manual task that sent out too many connections from your IP to the host server?
• Investigate software updates that need to be installed manually
• Organize routers more securely

Conclusion

Now that you have more knowledge of what IP address blacklisting is you can better prevent it and reduce your chances of falling into this undesirable situation. Just ensure you have all the preventative measures in place to secure your IP address.