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Does Spamcop Block Ranges?


NicolaDunn

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Posted

Hi,

I was just wondering; does SpamCop block IP Ranges? Ie: x.x.x.*?

A client of mine has had email blocked but his IP address isn't on the blocklist, so I was wondering if it could be the range that's blocked.

Thanks,

Nicola

Posted
I was just wondering; does SpamCop block IP Ranges? Ie: x.x.x.*?

A client of mine has had email blocked but his IP address isn't on the blocklist, so I was wondering if it could be the range that's blocked.

25800[/snapback]

Hi Nicola!

I believe the answer to your question is no... but I may be wrong since that isn't an aspect of SpamCop's working I'm very familiar with.

My main reason for replying is to suggest that you obtain the error messages your client is receiving and post the actual message here. There'll be plenty of help offered once the actual blocking message is seen.

It could, of course, be that the IP address was blcoked but by the time you checked had become unblocked. Again the the error message will help folk assess that for you. If you don't have the error message then knowing the IP address of the originating mail server might be sufficient.

Andrew

Posted

Hi Andrew,

Good suggestion, sorry.

Here's the error message:

host smtp.secureserver.net [64.202.166.12]: 553 81.29.73.* rejected due to

spam, contact 480-505-8877 (Spamcop 81.29.73.132)

The IP 81.29.73.132 is not this client, though it is one of our other clients, but it's not listed in the block list either.

Thanks

Nicola

Posted

Spamcop does not block ranges of IP addresses. It only blocks the IP address of the sending server. And it does not block websites.

Sometimes admins use the spamcop reject message for whatever they block. If you didn't get a report from spamcop then either you have a problem with sending email to spamtraps (usually auto messages) or the report went to someone upstream - if the IP addresses were on the spamcop bl at all.

It is good that you are following up on this because spamcop acts as an early warning system for whitehat admins if there is a compromised machine somewhere - the usual problem for listing as long as you don't send auto messages or accept email and then send the undeliverable messages. I don't know how to check for that, but someone will come along soon and tell you.

So either it was a momentary glitch that is fixed now or you will have an opportunity to fix a problem. If everything is ok, then you need to contact the one who sent the reject message. Sorry I can't be more help with the technical side.

Miss Betsy

Posted

Some strange stuff on this IP ... SenderBase http://www.senderbase.org/?searchBy=ipaddr...ng=81.29.73.132 shows;

Volume Statistics for this IP

Magnitude Vol Change vs. Average

Last day ........ 0.0 .. -100%

Last 30 days .. 2.4 ... -93%

Average ........ 3.6

Almost as if they've turned this server off and moved users ...

Although not currently listed on the SpamCopDNSBL, there is this listing;

Real-time blacklists

dnsbl.sorbs.net Web - http://www.dnsbl.sorbs.net/cgi-bin/lookup?IP=81.29.73.132

This could be one of those mis-configurations at the receiving ISP ... use of multiple BLs but the error messages are not corrctly itemized ..???

Posted

It is still up, currently answering on port 25 with "220 ded283.local ESMTP Postfix".

Posted

I'm not entirely sure what's going on with .132.

The client who's having the problem has had a number of their customers who use SpamCop receive those reports and the error message I posted above.

His IP isn't listed in the SpamCop block list though, which is what's really confusing me.

SpamCop doesn't seem to block ranges, so any problems with .132 shouldn't be causing a problem with the other IP.

I guess it's possible his IP was listed briefly, and is now out of the block list, though there don't seem to have been any problems from his server, so I can't understand why.

I've never used SpamCop, so I'm rather confused, sorry!

Nicola

Posted
It is still up, currently answering on port 25 with "220 ded283.local ESMTP Postfix".

OK, perhaps turned it into an incoming server only, outgoing e-mail handled by yet another server?

The client who's having the problem has had a number of their customers who use SpamCop receive those reports and the error message I posted above.

His IP isn't listed in the SpamCop block list though, which is what's really confusing me.

A misconfigured server at the receiving end has been suggested, mis-identifying SpamCop for a block based on something else.

SpamCop doesn't seem to block ranges, so any problems with .132 shouldn't be causing a problem with the other IP.

what other IP?

I guess it's possible his IP was listed briefly, and is now out of the block list, though there don't seem to have been any problems from his server, so I can't understand why.

I've never used SpamCop, so I'm rather confused, sorry!

There is a FAQ here, it you want to understand ... for instance, the "Why am I Blocked?" FAQ entry / Pinned item.

Posted
Which is why I asked if SpamCop blocked ranges...

So if SpamCop doesn't as standard, could people using SpamCop have updated a blocking list from a different deny list?

25850[/snapback]

Some administrators use wildcards to block entire ranges (e.g., xxx.xxx.xxx.*) around an IP address that is listed in the SpamCop Blocking List. As we have seen in an earlier discussion, GoDaddy, which runs the secureserver.net servers, seems to be doing just that. Maybe you can contact GoDaddy at the phone number given and ask them what is going on?

Posted
The thing is... .132 isn't the server that's having the problem.

It's just in the same range: 81.29.73.*

Which is why I asked if SpamCop blocked ranges...

So if SpamCop doesn't as standard, could people using SpamCop have updated a blocking list from a different deny list?

25850[/snapback]

Except that the error message you posted :

host smtp.secureserver.net [64.202.166.12]: 553 81.29.73.* rejected due to

spam, contact 480-505-8877 (Spamcop 81.29.73.132)

indicates that is the server causing the block. As mentioned elsewhere here: the message could be wrong about the cuase of the block, the affected server could be using that server as a smarthost to direct all of it's traffic, the remote administrator may be blocking entire subnets based on spamcop.

Have you called the contact number they provided to get the full answer?

Posted

As a GoDaddy Customer (including email service), I'd also be interested in knowing WTF they are blocking. :)

Posted
Hi,

I was just wondering; does SpamCop block IP Ranges? Ie: x.x.x.*?

A client of mine has had email blocked but his IP address isn't on the blocklist, so I was wondering if it could be the range that's blocked.

25800[/snapback]

No. SpamCop doesn't BLOCK anything: it merely lists sources of spam.

What server admins choose to do with that info is up to them. From the info you provide in your follow-up post it would seem that this recipient chooses not only to block (rather than tag as suspect) mail from IP's on the list but also to block those from the neighbouring 254 addresses. Bad call IMHO but there's nothing that SpamCop can do about it.

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