Spamhaus.org wont let me send mail!

cormie · 20-02-2007 11:36AM #1

Strange, never had this problem before but I've just tried to send mail from Thunderbird where I have my poker.ie mail set up and have had for the past 2 years or so, never a problem. I pressed send and then this came up:

An error occurred while sending mail. The mail server responded: XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX is listed in xbl.spamhaus.org

(http://www.spamhaus.org/query/bl?ip=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX). Please verify that your email address is correct in your Mail preferences and try again.

So I went to spamhaus.org and went to look up the IP address and the results it gave were:

XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX is not listed in the SBL
XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX is not listed in the PBL
XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX is listed in the XBL, because it appears in:
* CBL

and when I click the CBL link it says:

IP Address XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX was found in the CBL.

It was detected at 2007-02-19 14:00 GMT (+/- 30 minutes), approximately 20 hours, 30 minutes ago.

Request delisting of XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX.

I haven't got a clue why my IP has appeared there, we sent a mail to a lot of users about 2 weeks ago, that's all I can think of

Has anyone had this problem before and what caused it and how do you solve it? Is it just a case of "requesting the delisting" or is it more complicated?

Any feedback appreciated!

cormie · 20-02-2007 01:35PM

Just an update on this, my brother (who's actually the one who sent all the mails to our users) can send mails from his poker.ie address no problem on a different connection. So is the problem the IP address I'm connected to? How would that have been put on spamhaus

bush doctor · 20-02-2007 01:51PM

The recipient mail server is using IP address blacklists (from Spamhaus) as an anti-spam measure. Your IP address would be listed if Spamhaus have detected that spam was sent from your IP address (within the last 24 hours or so).

You will usually be delisted after a certain time period or you can request the delisting immediately as long as this is a once-off.

You should check your security settings on the PC(s) on your network - firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware, to make sure that spam isn't being relayed through you.

cormie · 20-02-2007 01:57PM

That's mad, how could that have happened I wonder? I'm on an unsecure wireless network, maybe that has something to do with it. The router is in my friends house and I'm leeching off it, I doubt anyone else is.

How would I go about checking it out so?

H2G2 · 20-02-2007 02:44PM

That's mad, how could that have happened I wonder?

I presume you are using a broadband service provider… this is a regular problem with dynamically assigned IP addresses. In my case, I use Eircom broadband and I get an invalid (ie. Spam listed) IP one per week on average :mad: . There is nothing you can do about this – its your ISP problem, not you. When this happens me, I just reboot my router and that automatically gets a new IP. Problem solved.

How to check you IP:
Step 1, use a nice Google Toolbar tool like http://checkmyip.com to get your IP addesss
Step 2 then look it up in a service like this www.spamhaus.org/lookup.lasso
Step 3 If you get a positive hit, then restart router to get new IP.

I have complained to Eircom many times and get a standard reply like this:

If you noticed that your dynamic IP address is being blacklisted due to spam please fill out an abuse report on http://support.eircom.net/abuse by clicking ?File a Blacklisting report? and our abuse team will investigate and request that IP to be delisted from spam list.

BTW, I have friends using BT and this happens regurarly.

You could request a static IP and that should avoid the problem, but ISP's usually only provide this to business BB users.

Illkillya · 20-02-2007 02:49PM

It can happen if you or someone who previously had your IP had a virus. There should be a link on the spamhaus page to remove it from the blacklist.

cormie · 20-02-2007 03:12PM

Ok, I may as just well remove it thanks:)

I didn't want to remove it yet incase whatever happened, happened again and they wouldn't allow me to unlist it if it kept happening (IP kept offending)

Thanks for the help, I'll try it out:)

By the way H2G2, was your comment on your friends with BT just a general statement or can you see I'm on BT myself some how?

H2G2 · 20-02-2007 03:43PM

cormie wrote:

By the way H2G2, was your comment on your friends with BT just a general statement or can you see I'm on BT myself some how?

No its just a general comment, as I know for fact this is a frequent problem issue for both Eircom and BT BB users, but I suspect most ISP are slow to check and remove there IP's from spam lists.

Its a real nuisance, but a fact of BB life. I did ask a sys admin friend of mine (BT BB customer as it happens) and he said nothing you can do, other than report to ISP. Would be nice to write a little utility to check for spam listed IP’s on boot and automatically reset router… anyone written one and want to share

Spamhaus.org wont let me send mail!

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