What happens if my IP address is blocked on your server?
It may happen that a user’s IP address is temporarily blocked as a result of various security measures. Should this occur, the user will no longer be able to access any websites on the server in question, whilst third parties will continue to have access. This security measure serves to protect our infrastructure and your data.
How can I tell if my IP address has been blocked, and what should I do?
If you suspect that your IP address has been blocked and you can no longer access your website or other services, there is a simple way to check:
Try accessing the website using your mobile phone whilst Wi-Fi is switched off, so that you are connected via the mobile network. If you can access the site via the mobile network but not via your fixed-line connection, it is highly likely that your IP address has been blocked by your internet service provider.
We also recommend checking the service status using our independent status page at https://serverstatus.de-serv.de/. This is hosted externally on a different network and in a different data centre, providing an independent check of the system status. If no disruption is reported there, it is likely that your IP address has been blocked.
Troubleshooting and preventative measures for users
If failed login attempts are the cause of the block, we recommend checking all devices and applications that have access to the affected services (e.g. email accounts). Please ensure that, if you have changed your password or username, this has also been updated on all devices and programmes that use these login details.
This includes not only your PC or laptop but also mobile devices such as mobile phones and tablets. Experience shows that users often forget to update the password on one of these devices, which can lead to repeated failed login attempts and trigger an IP block.
These steps are essential to ensure the security of your accounts whilst avoiding unnecessary IP blocks. If you continue to experience access issues after carrying out these checks, or if you need assistance in resolving the problem, our support team is here to help. We’ll be happy to help you analyse the problem and restore your access.
Causes of an IP block
Too many failed login attempts: Incorrectly entered login details for services such as IMAP, SMTP, FTP or web login can lead to your IP address being temporarily blocked. Such blocks are usually limited to 30 minutes, but may be extended to up to 1 day or longer in the event of repeated violations.
False positive detection by the WAF: In rare cases, a false positive detection by our Web Application Firewall (WAF) may result in a legitimate IP address being blocked in error.
Unblocking and support
We can manually lift IP blocks and offer support in investigating how the block occurred. This feature is an essential part of our security architecture to ward off brute-force attacks and ensure the security of customer accounts.
Important for a quick resolution
To unblock access, we require the public IP address of the user who can no longer access the server. You can find your public IP address using various online services. Once we have this information, we can act quickly to restore access and work with you to analyse the cause.
IP blocks are an important mechanism for ensuring the security of our customers and their data. Should you ever find yourself in a situation where your access is blocked, please do not hesitate to contact us.