At MxToolbox, we occasionally see a domain on an IP blacklist as a source of spam or malware when the owner of the domain has done nothing wrong.  This article will discuss the issue and potential solutions.

The first thing we always recommend to customers with a potential spam or malware problem is to review the following things:

1. Have you violated any CAN-SPAM regulations recently?
2. Have you had a virus or malware outbreak in the recent past?
3. Do you run your own mailserver?  Has it been on a blacklist recently?

If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, you may have earned your spot on the blacklist but we can still help you with some tools and techniques.  Learn more about our blacklist solutions.

If the answer to all of these questions is “No”, you may still be on a blacklist through no fault of your own.  If you are hosting your domain in a shared environment, it is typical that the IP address associated with your domain is the same as the IP address associated with several other domains. These shared environments use the same servers for multiple domains.  In this case, the IP address of the server has been blacklisted.  This may be due to one of the other domains on this server having trouble with spam or malware.  It’s not your fault, you’re tainted by association.

What can you do?

You have a few options that involve talking to your Internet Service Provider (ISP).  First, you must notify your ISP that your shared host has a blacklist issue.  This problem affects all the domains hosted on that server and your ISP needs to notify other customers on the affected server.  Also, they may need to protect other servers, or run anti-virus and anti-malware protection on the server as the blacklisting may have been as a result of an infection.  Second, you can ask your ISP to move your domain and website to another server or have the IP address of your server changed to one that is not blacklisted.  If the domain that caused the blacklisting remains on the same server, however, your blacklist problem will only go away temporarily.  Another option is to move your domain to a dedicated host, where you are not sharing a server.  This may be more expensive but will make you entirely responsible for the blacklist health of your domain.

MxToolbox email experts can help you with everything you need around blacklists, including:

• Lookup tools for identifying the blacklists you are on
• Monitoring tools to constantly watch your domains and IP addresses for inclusion on a blacklist (and our paid monitoring solutions come with our top-notch support)
• Information on blacklist and links to the blacklist, including delisting resources.

We also offer a turn-key Domain Health Monitoring solution that automatically monitors all the important aspects of your domain, from blacklists to email to website health.

Contact us to learn more.

This is the final article in a multi-part introductory series on blacklists and blacklist activity.

Most of our customers come to us when their business has already been adversely affected by blacklisting.  Email is crippled by low deliverability rates.  The first question our experts are asked is always “How do I get off this $%&! blacklist?”  The process is really simple, but it often takes time.

First, you need to stop spamming, or sending viruses and malware.  The infected systems need to be shutdown or quarantined.  This could mean taking down email servers or infected workstations across the company.

Second, you need to put in place tools that prevent future exploitation of your systems.  MxToolbox, as an expert in email and blacklists, recommends cloud-based email security software and monitoring of your blacklist status.  You can contact our experts to learn about our Monitoring packages.

Third, you must contact the blacklisting agency or agencies to get delisted.  If you are on multiple blacklists, you must contact each one separately as each has their own preferred delisting process.  One thing is universal: before removing you from their list, blacklist operators will require you to explain the steps you took to prevent further spam, malware or botnet attacks from your servers.

MxToolbox email experts can help you with everything you need around blacklists, including:

• Lookup tools for identifying the blacklists you are on
• Monitoring tools to constantly watch your domains and IP addresses for inclusion on a blacklist (and our paid monitoring solutions come with our top-notch support)
• Information on blacklist and links to the blacklist, including delisting resources.

Contact us to learn more.

This is the third article in a multi-part introductory series on blacklists and blacklist activity.

The simple answer is don’t spam, or send malware or viruses and you won’t get on a blacklist!  Unfortunately, this is not as simple as it sounds.   As applications and operating systems get more powerful and complex, they open more possibilities for exploitation.  Spammers and hackers are finding new ways everyday to exploit these systems.  Your system administrators keep up with patches, but, often what fails isn’t the configuration, patch or security, it’s human nature.  All it takes is an errant click on the wrong link or downloading something from the wrong site and your systems can be infected with malware.

The best way to prevent blacklisting is to limit the risk of a malware infection through comprehensive email filtering and monitoring.  Now that botnets are also problematic, we also recommend security software that filters website URLs and DNS to offer additional protection.

Regardless of the software you choose, implementing a comprehensive email security solution is necessary to prevent blacklisting and ensure email deliverability.  Contact us for more information.

In the next installment of our series on Blacklists, I will discuss the steps you need to take to get off of blacklists.

This is the second article in a multi-part introductory series on blacklists and blacklist activity.

At MxToolbox, our experts see the same story play out time and again:

For a few weeks or days, a small number of seemingly random emails bounce back or delivery fails.  At first, this is no real problem; email is never 100%, right?  Then, an important email to a big client goes missing and your users get nervous.  Administrators at your client’s organization says you’ve been blacklisted so they can’t accept email from you.  By then, you realize a large portion of your email isn’t getting through to anyone.  Your business is at risk and it’s all because you are on a blacklist!

Blacklist operators use a number of ways to catch and track undesirable activity but sometimes they capture legitimate businesses, like yours.  Typically, legitimate businesses get placed on a blacklist for one of the following reasons:

• Relaying spam through in-house email servers
• Sending malware, viruses or spam from individual accounts
• Denial of Service (DoS) or other type attacks from malware infected servers or networks
• Unknowingly Sending phishing emails or unsubscribe attacks
• Operating a mail server with no reverse DNS, such as from an IP address in your Internet Service Provider’s (ISP’s) dynamic IP address pool (DHCP)
• Failing to honor unsubscribes when mailing

So, you can see there are a number of reasons that you can end up on a blacklist without actually intending to do something undesirable.  Most often, our experts find that a blacklist issue was caused by your servers passing on spam, viruses or malware.  This condition is highly preventable!

At MxToolbox, our experts understand the common causes of blacklisting.  We can help you take immediate steps to get removed from blacklists and provide thoughtful solutions to keep you off blacklists in the future.  Contact us for more information.

In the next installment of our series on Blacklists, I will discuss some methods for preventing blacklists.

This is the first article in a multi-part introductory series on blacklists and blacklist activity.

A Realtime Blacklist, or RBL, is a list of IP addresses and domain names that an organization has decided to block, typically for spam.  There are many Blacklists, and each focuses on different types of undesirable behavior.  For example:

• CBL or Composite Blocking List is a DNS-based blackhole list of suspected e-mail services sending SPAM email resulting from virus or malware infections.
• Listing on Backscatterer blacklist indicates that your server is issuing “backscatter” in the form of Non-Delivery Reports (bounces) to external users, or misdirected autoresponders and sender callouts.
• Inclusion in either of the MAILSPIKE Blacklists (BL or Z) means that your IP Address has most likely been identified as being part of a real-time spam outbreak.

Blacklists are typically used to block undesirable internet traffic.  For example:

• Blocking access to websites on domains known for malware
• Blocking incoming email from IPs or domains known to be spammers
• Blocking access to IP addresses based in risky countries

MxToolbox does not own or operate any of these blacklists.  Instead, our email experts curate a list of over 100 blacklists and aggregate blacklist information into a single, central lookup tool.  Our tools enable you to check your mail server IPs and domain names against all these blacklists in a single consolidated interface.  Our monitoring packages enable you to monitor your domains and IP addresses for blacklist activity and get instant notification when placed on a blacklist.  We built our lookup and monitoring tools to help you navigate the complicated world of blacklists.

Your email deliverability depends on staying off of blacklists.  Get protected today.

In our next installment of our series on Blacklists, I will discuss how legitimate businesses sometimes end up on blacklists.