Question

Topic: Strategy

Problem With Spamhaus. Help Wanted! Please!

Posted by flanger on 11/13/2008 at 4:19 PM ET 500 Points
Good day Profs,

This time I really-really-really need your help!

Has anyone had any problems or issues with Spamhaus? What do you know about getting out from their lists? What do you know about spamhaus's owners? I need all info you can tell me, I need as many opinions as possible, please! Also, maybe someone can help to get out from their blacklists. We are stable and respected comapny with more than 10 years of experience, and we found our IPs and names there. Other companies with similar activity arent listed there, but we are, and it's very sad, cause we have all sertificates, contracts, any kind of "papers" and so on, I mean - really stable and respected company! I really need your advice and help! Guys, please!
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  • Posted by darcy.moen on 11/13/2008 at 10:25 PM Accepted
    Don;t like to be the bearer of bad news, but Spamhaus may be just ONE of your problems. There is also Spamcop.net, knujon.com and njabl.org

    Now, before you go into total panic mode, take a deep breath, and relax. Even the BEST is ISP's, companies, and regular human beings get listed on blacklists for spamming. It happens. All it takes is one typhoid mary laptop to get onto your wireless network at the office and your IP address may end up on a spam blacklist. Accidents happen. What if you're hacked, or a trojan turns one of your desktops into a spam zombie? It is tough to protect against everything.
    Then again, if your servers are shared servers (more than one web site on a server - like an apartment building), then the IP address of the server may be listed on blacklists because one of your neighbors was having a VERY LOUD SP@M PARTY one day, and then EVERYONE in the Apartment block (server) pays the price when the IP addy gets blacklisted. Youch!

    Your real issue is, how do you get OFF the blacklist. Well, its pretty simple. You ask. You ask, very politely. And finally, you ask very politely, and you do whatever is takes to plug any holes in your network that the Spamhaus folks find (that is if they have found or report security flaws in your network). Most spam reporting systems have a process to whitelist your IP addresses again. Look for a link on the spam reporting web site where you can request removal of your domain name or IP address from the blacklist.

    In your case, you likely need this link to Spamhaus:

    https://www.spamhaus.org/lookup.lasso

    Type in your IP address (or have your local GEEK show you where you can find your IP address) and follow the instructions onscreen. Keep your geek close in case you get instructions you don't understand. Do the same on any other spam reporting service you are listed with.

    Some Internet Service Providers like AOL, Comcast, Earthlink are keping their own black lists. If you are getting email bouncing back as undeliverable because you fit a spammers profile (or worse, are listed on their internal blacklist), then you can go to the ISP's web site and fill in a form to get placed on the ISP's whitelist and resume regular email service.

    If you would like to do a quick check of your server's IP address and see if its listed in the main Spam Blacklisting services, go here:

    https://www.ipchecking.com

    Type in your server IP or domain name, and voila! If you are listed, it will come up with who, and where. Then, go to those sites and begin the process to become whitelisted again.

    Many of these spam black list services share information with each other as well as with other network operators. I know my ISP relies on Spamhaus and Spamcop's blacklists to filter incoming mail from proven or know spam systems and IP's. It may take a few days for your IP address to become whitelisted again. Some services may even put your IP or your domain on 'probation' for some time before white listing you again. This way if an offensive service starts up again, they can take immediate steps to shut it down. So, be patient. It'll work out eventually.

    Relax, its just computers. And, if you are really really really haunted by the tought that your IP was tainted by being on a spam black list, well, request a change of IP from your service provider.

    Hope this helps you.

    Darcy Moen
    Customer Loyalty Network
  • Posted by flanger on 11/14/2008 at 4:48 AM Author
    Oh, we are sending mails only to our clients. No harvesting and then bulk mailing, no! They think we produce spam software, but that's not a spam software - we are licensed and certificated massmail software company, and we are against spam. We have anti-spam policy. We have never sent emails from that IP. And the most interesting thing - there are no our competitors in that blacklist, there are no other companies that produce similar software or services... Why? Any suggestions? Please!
  • Posted by darcy.moen on 11/14/2008 at 10:14 AM Member
    The definition of SPAM varies. To you, you may think you are sending opt in or permission based email, but to the recipient, SPAM is any UNWANTED email message. Even if you have a total opt in list, all it takes is ONE person to send in a complaint report, and your whole block of IP's can be blacklisted.

    If you are in the business of email and email marketing, you'd better get your head around the concept of permission, what isn't permission, and how to use permission fast, and learn how to get off lists faster.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 11/14/2008 at 12:36 PM Accepted
    As Darcy mentions, your problem may be that you're using a shared web hosting service (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shared_hosting). If you have a dedicated IP, then make sure you have your own SSL certificate to build email confidence.
  • Posted by flanger on 11/14/2008 at 5:52 PM Author
    You see, we are in that blacklist only because of our software - we are developers, we develop and sell, we dont send emails or something like that. People buy our software from different sources and then we just send them registration keys, but that's ok. Spamhaus says we are spammers because we develop spam software, that actually isn't a spam software at all, reliable firms use our soft, we have all certificates, licenses, we are in this biz for 10 years. And now Spamhaus says we are spammers because someone uses our software in wrong ways :((((
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 11/16/2008 at 6:23 AM Accepted
    You might want to let us know your website (add it to your profile, don't place it in a response here).

    Nobody likes what they perceive to be unwanted advertising, as you might recollect from this earlier post. And that's a perception battle you're going to have to address sometime soon.

    Or else you're going to have to develop an alternative product line that isn't linked to inappropriate, internet-sociopathic behaviour by some of your customers.

    Hope that helps.

    ChrisB
  • Posted by flanger on 11/17/2008 at 5:30 AM Author
    Does anybody have some e-advocates or ppl who can get us out from Spamhaus lists? Not for free, of course...
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 11/18/2008 at 7:31 AM Member
    Flanger

    You could try Netsmartz

    ChrisB
  • Posted by darcy.moen on 11/18/2008 at 9:29 AM Member
    I'm more curious about what your software product is, and what your web site is now. Send me a link off forum via my profile.

    You may want to reach out to SpamHuas and ask them to help you integrate anti-spam measure INTO your software, thus turning your tool from software that could be used to send spam into a tool that STOPS or COMBATS spam.

    This is the first time I've heard of SpamHaus listing a software web site as a spam producing site because of the software they make. Isn;t that the same of accusing the share holders of Remmington of being murderers because the company they own makes products that can kill people (guns)?
  • Posted by flanger on 11/18/2008 at 4:41 PM Author
    Something like that with guns, yeah... We tried to contact Spamhaus, many times, but all they say is - haha, got you, spammers! :D like a couple of kids, you know :)
  • Posted by DougM on 11/28/2008 at 1:39 AM Accepted
    Have you tried the old fashioned certified mail - signature required?
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