If your website, webmail, cPanel or email app suddenly stops working from one place but works everywhere else, our server firewall has probably blocked your IP address. It's usually quick to fix. Here's how to confirm it and get unblocked.
Signs your IP is blocked
- In a browser: you see a security check or captcha page, and it keeps coming back.
- In email apps, FTP and other software: there's no page to show, so connections just time out or are refused. Outlook says it can't reach the server, or your phone says the password is wrong or the server is unavailable.
- Only from one network: everything works on mobile data but not on your office or home Wi-Fi. That's the clearest sign the block is on your IP and the server itself is fine.
How to get unblocked
- If you see a captcha in your browser, complete it. That normally lets you straight back in.
- If it doesn't, or the problem is in an email app or FTP, find your IP address with our What's my IP tool. Use the device and connection that has the problem. If edznet.io won't load at all, use whatsmyip.edznet.io instead, because it runs outside the firewall.
- Open a support ticket, or contact us from another connection such as mobile data. Include your IP address, what you were trying to use (website, webmail, cPanel, email app or FTP) and roughly when it started.
- We find the IP in the firewall, remove the block and tell you what triggered it.
Not sure it's a block? Our port checker tests the server from our side. If the ports are open but you still can't connect, an IP block is the usual reason.
Why it happens
All EDZNET hosting is protected by BitNinja, which automatically blocks addresses that behave like an attack. Real customers usually get caught by one of these:
- An old saved password. You changed a password, but a phone, tablet or old laptop still uses the old one and keeps retrying. To the server, that looks like someone guessing passwords. This is by far the most common cause.
- Repeated failed logins to cPanel, webmail, WordPress or FTP.
- A shared connection. Offices, hotels and mobile networks put many people behind one IP, so one misbehaving device can affect everyone on it.
- VPNs and proxies. Their addresses are shared with many other users, so they're flagged more often.
- Old or unusual software that looks like an attack tool. See TLS handshake fingerprinting explained.
Stop it happening again
- After changing a password, update it on every device, including old ones that are still switched on. See changing an email account password.
- Use the correct email settings for mail apps. Wrong ports or encryption settings cause repeated failed connections.
- If your business has a fixed (static) IP, ask us to whitelist it. Most home and mobile IPs change, so whitelisting them doesn't help for long.
- Keep devices free of malware. One infected machine can get a whole office blocked.
We can't turn the firewall off on shared hosting, because it protects every site on the server. Fixing the cause works better, and it's usually just an out-of-date password. Our blog post blocked by the firewall? How to find your IP has more detail.
