My website or email address has been blocked, what can I do?
Why do we block a website
In rare cases it happens that a web space, scripts or email accounts are misused by third parties to distribute malicious code or to send spam in large quantities. If we detect such behavior, we block the account, the website or the affected mailbox to limit the damage to you and the reputation of the server.
Why was my page blocked?
You have received an e-mail from us regarding the blocking, in which we have communicated the cause and further details.
Basically, there are three types of causes for a block:
- Your website has been abused by a third party, e.g. to distribute malicious code.
- A contact form on your website is abused to send mass emails through it
- A third party has gained access to one of your e-mail addresses in order to send mass e-mails.
- In rare cases we have to block a website because the content violates our terms and conditions or applicable laws. In such a case, we will inform you separately with all necessary details.
In all of the above cases, we also strongly recommend that you check your end devices such as PC or laptop with an up-to-date anti-virus program.
What can I do now?
My website has been abused by third parties, e.g. to distribute malicious code
Please check your web hosting for infected files and clean them up accordingly.
To do this, you can log in to the web hosting Control Panel, for example, and check the data in your web hosting account via the File Manager.
Pay attention to
folders and files that do not belong to your homepage
Files that belong to your website but have been recently modified. Here, the modification date of the files can give you an indication of whether they have been changed.
For the time being, move the files that you have identified as suspicious to a folder that cannot be accessed publicly via your website. This folder should not be located in the httpdocs folder.
If you use a content management system (WordPress, Joomla, Typo3, etc.), make sure that the latest security updates are installed.
We recommend to change all passwords afterwards, especially the one
the primary FTP account
all e-mail accounts
Please let us know as soon as you have taken the necessary measures so that we can unblock your account.
As a secure password, we recommend a password that is at least 8 characters long with upper and lower case letters, as well as numbers and special characters. The Webhosting Control Panel offers a password generator in the respective form for this purpose.
My contact form was misused to send mass emails
Spam is often sent via insecure contact forms. Therefore, if you use a contact form, you should specifically check it.
Here are some tips on how you can make the contact form more secure:
- Use a so-called captcha, which prevents the contact form from being filled out automatically.
- Configure your contact form in such a way that the recipient cannot be freely selected.
- You can remove the blocking yourself via our Webhosting Control Panel. To do this, click on the item "Password protected directory" after logging in and delete the password protection there.
My email address has been misused to send mass emails
In most cases, we detect the sending of spam e-mails through our outgoing spam gateways, which alert us to any anomalies.
Since communication via e-mail is a very sensitive topic and we never accidentally imitate a blocking, such an incident is always checked again by us beforehand.
If we detect misuse, we block the e-mail address and issue a new password for the e-mail address in question in order to limit the damage to you and the server's mail reputation.
You can easily change the password again via your web hosting control panel under the menu item "E-MAIL". Please use a new password to prevent your e-mail address from being misused again.
Why are regular updates important for my software?
Especially content management systems like typo3, Joomla or WordPress are very complex and are constantly updated by the developers to enable the secure and stable operation of the software.
Applications that are not regularly updated by you are a preferred target for hacking attacks. This is especially true for the installed plug-ins, components, modules and templates, for which no current updates have been installed, these cause an increased security risk.
It is therefore strongly recommended to install updates and upgrades as soon as possible, as soon as they are provided by the developers.
An update and upgrades can include the following important details, among others:
- new features
- bug fixes (errors in the program code are corrected)
- Security updates (security fixes; closing known security holes that could be exploited by hackers).
Even if the current version you may be using has been working for years, security updates are extremely important to protect your website and your visitors from harm.
As a secure password we recommend a password of at least 8 characters with upper and lower case letters, as well as numbers and special characters. The Webhosting Control Panel offers a password generator in the respective form. Further information you'll find also under Secure Password - Green