The complete beginners guide to get off a blacklist

Published Nov. 2, 2018, 12:56 p.m. by stoos

How to get removed from a blacklist? 

There are hundreds of blacklists on the internet. Their intention is to publish and share information about different kinds of security threats.

Some list SPAM, others list malware domains and others list IP addresses that have shown malicious behavior like SSH brutefoce attempts or IPs that are being used in more sophisticated attack scenarios (APT – Advanced Persistent Threat). 

Their significance can be explained quickly. Since more and more companies start using blacklists to monitor and protect their IT infrastructure it means that those blacklisted companies suffer damages to their internet reputation which as a consequence leads to less email traffic with customers, less visitors to their internet sites and therefore in the end to a loss in sales. 

As you can see there are many good reasons to consider implementing blacklists into your IT strategy.

Blacklists help you to monitor your IT infrastructure’s health and to filter abusive and malicious traffic. 

For example, when using SPAM blacklists you can reduce and filter 99 % of SPAM traffic. 

Let’s make an example.

A Server Hosting company whose client, intentionally or unintentionally, is sending out SPAM. The hosting company can use blacklists to determine which client’s machine is blacklisted and therefore sometimes also affecting the entire hosting provider’s domain. Now the hosting company is probably going to cancel that client’s service subscription. But only to find that client’s former IP address still being blacklisted and hence not being ready for use. In such a case it is vital for the hosting service provider to be able to remove the listed IP addresses off of the blacklists. 

Unfortunately, like any system, blacklists aren’t perfect and occasionally list IPs and domains that don’t mean any harm to anyone, False Positives. 

Many blacklist administrators therefore have processes to allow system administrators to have their IPs and domains removed from those lists. 

Blacklisted – what now? 

Then this is probably the perfect point in time to do the investigation and necessary security checks on your own systems first. Many companies only realized that their systems have been compromised through these blacklists. 

You think the entry of your IP address or domain on a blacklist is unjust or you gotten rid of an unwanted infection and now you want your entry removed from the blacklists?

How can I remove my system from a blacklist? 

First of all you need to know that every blacklist is managed by different individuals or organizations. There is no single point to send a request to have your systems removed from all blacklists.

We at monapi.io don’t maintain any blacklists ourselves and therefore we can’t remove your systems from any blacklists.

But we did the research to make this step for you as easy as possible. 

Steps for removing IPs or domains from blacklists: 

1. Monapi.io searched every major important DNSBL and RBL and picked out their links through which you can have the entries of your systems removed.

2. If you can’t find the link on our site, simply search for the name of the blacklist and and look for a “delisting” form on it’s website.

3. If you also can’t find that, you can try contacting the blacklists administrator directly. Look for a contact form, email address or Facebook or Twitter handles.

4. If all of these steps lead to no success or contact, try reading through the blacklist’s site searching for information that specifies how long an entry in a blacklist will be held. Often blacklist entries get deleted after a certain amount of time.