What does IP blocked/banned mean?
Every machine that connects to the internet is issued an Internet Protocol address (IP address). You will have either a 32-bit number for IPv4 or 128 bit IPv6.
IPV4 SAMPLE: 192.0.2.1
IPV6 SAMPLE: 2001:DB8:0:1234:0:567:8:1
You can easily find out what your IP address is by going to a website like iP ChiCKEN.
By using this Internet Protocol address (IP address) a web server can refuse connections. This is also known as blocking or banning.
How can I tell if my IP address was blocked?
An easy way to help determine if your IP address was blocked by your web hosting/server is to try and access it from another IP address.
Option 1 – Try accessing from a cellular internet connection:
If you have a smartphone you can try and access the website/URL using the internet connection from your cellular provider. This will be a different IP address than the internet you have from your home’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) and will let you quickly discover if only the home internet connection is not able to access it.
Option 2 – Try accessing from a web proxy:
By using a proxy server you can have an intermediary between yourself and the destination server which will mask your IP address. This will hide your IP address from the destination server and instead provide the IP address of the proxy service. One of the most used free web proxy services is Hidester. This service quickly allows you to access a website/URL from a different IP address.
Option 3 – Try accessing from a VPN service:
A virtual private network service (VPN) tunnels your internet traffic and masks your true IP address. Using a service like IPVanish is not free, but may be something you would like to have to achieve online privacy, security, and freedom on any network that may monitor or block access to websites internally. This is one thing to consider while diagnosing if your IP address was blocked. You may not be able to access it because of the settings on your own network.
Why was my IP address blocked?
If you are able to access the website/URL with one of the 3 options above it is likely that your IP address was blocked. Here are some common reasons for an IP address to be blocked by a web hosting/server.
Invalid Login Attempts
In order to block brute-force attacks (submitting many passwords with the hope of eventually guessing correctly) many servers monitor this activity and eventually block the originating IP address. Here at HoboHost we’ve seen this happen when a user has the wrong password set for an email client. The email client attempts to login with the incorrect password infinitely and eventually results in the IP address being blocked/banned.
WAF (Web Application Firewall) or ModSecurity Rules
Web Application Firewall or ModSecurity rules inspect requests with real-time monitoring, logging and filtering of requests. These rules are intended to provide security but can sometimes wrongly identify an attacker. The server administrator can review logs to determine if this is the case.
How can my IP address be unblocked or whitelisted?
Your web hosting provider or server administrator can un-block your IP address or whitelist it to prevent it from being blocked in the future. Customers of HoboHost can quickly get this resolved by opening a support ticket in our client area here.
If you are not satisfied with your current web hosting check out HoboHost for superb support and the cheapest cPanel web hosting service! We’ll make sure your IP won’t be blocked for a long time if any of the scenarios above ever happens.
