QUESTION:
I recently noticed that I can access your website on some devices I own but not others. Why is this?
ANSWER:
1. CAUSE: Some source IP addresses are blocked by firewalls while others are not.
2. FIREWALL BLOCKING TYPES: The firewalls that might be blocking your device include:
2.1 Our own server firewall. We PERMANENTLY filter IP addresses that engage in Denial of Service Attacks or which use website downloading software. If you have been blocked on our server, we can only restore the access and remove you from our firewall blocking list AFTER you obtain a copy of the site through our bookstore at the following link.
This ensures that you no longer need to download our entire website with downloading software and block our site again. This is explained on the following page:
Website Security (under the About->Website Security* menu item”
2.2 You are trying to access our site from a public location like an airport or coffee shop but the business blocks our site(s) using their local firewall policies. Websense is one company as an example that offers firewall services to small businesses and has been known to block us in the past.
2.3 You are trying to access the site through a VPN service provider, such as Nord VPN. These services are typically hosted at web hosting sites throughout the world. These web hosting facilities are typically ALSO used as the launch point for Denial of Service Attacks and must frequently be filtered by our firewall. As such, we block out the entire range of some hosting providers to block out these attacks. This sometimes has the unwanted side effect of also disabling VPN access to our site for those VPN service nodes that are located at that hosting provider. As such, you may need to access the site from a different geographic location or VPN node in order for your VPN access to work properly.
2.4 The WordPress firewall also blocks people who:
2.4.1 Try to login three or more times with the wrong password.
2.4.2 Use website downloading software.
Click here for details on the above items under 2.4.
3. TROUBLESHOOTING UNREACHABILITY ON YOUR NORMAL HOME CONNECTION: If you are unable to access us from your main Personal Computer:
3.1 Try another device not on the same modem or router to see if you can reach us. That means if you normally access us from a home computer, try your smartphone NOT through WIFI, but through your cellular connection, which will use a different IP address to access out site. If that works, then chances are good that our firewall is blocking you and you will have to take the steps in item 2.1 above.
3.2 If you are accessing the site from a VPN service, try a different VPN node or a different geographical location to access the site. This will bypass the firewall filtering of that hosting provider instituted to stop a previous denial of service attack.
4. IDENTIFYING IF YOUR SPECIFIC SOURCE IP ADDRESS IS BEING FILTERED BY OUR SERVER FIREWALL:
4.1. If our WordPress firewall is blocking you, then you will get a blocked warning message when you try to access the WordPress portion of our site.
4.2. For a list of specific IP source addresses that are filtered or to see if your VPN provider is blacklisted, see:
Website Security*, Section 2: Hackers Report
https://sedm.org/about/website-security/
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