What is blacklisting
Blacklists are an effective tool for countering cybercriminals. Read how they work and how you can use blacklisting.
Blacklisting is a process in which a list is kept of items or individuals considered undesirable or untrustworthy. There are several reasons why an item or person ends up on a blacklist and gets blocked, including sending unwanted emails (spam), spreading malware, carrying out attacks on networks, and violating security protocols. If you have an item or person on your blacklist, this can cause your emails to not be delivered, or access to certain websites to be denied.
How is blacklisting used?
Blacklisting is widely used by companies, government agencies, and individuals to prevent their software and systems from being attacked by cybercriminals. Companies, such as email service providers, use blacklisting to combat spam and prevent their networks from being abused by cybercriminals. Government agencies use blacklists to check whether certain websites, personal information, or other documents are trustworthy.
How does blacklisting work?
To get an item or person onto a blacklist, it first needs to be identified as a potential threat. Various methods are used to identify computers and individuals, including analysis software, manual checks, and IP tracking. If an item or person is identified as a threat, it is added to the list, and all further access is blocked.
Pay close attention to blacklisting settings
If you use a blacklist, it's important to look carefully at the settings. For example, if you use a spam filter, you need to make sure you only add spam senders to your list, not legitimate email addresses. If you use a website security system, you need to make sure you only add suspicious IP addresses to your list. If you add the wrong information to your list, this can result in legitimate access being blocked.
Blacklisting is an effective tool for combating cybercriminals and protecting your computers and networks. Make sure you keep checking the settings and also monitor whether the right people are actually ending up on a blacklist.
How do you prevent blacklisting yourself?
Prevention is better than cure, and this certainly applies to blacklisting. Make sure your mail server is properly configured, and avoid sending large volumes of unsolicited emails. Always use a reliable email provider and implement security measures such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to verify that your emails really do come from you. It's also smart to regularly check your IP and domain status using blacklist checkers, so you can act quickly if you do end up on a list.
What if you're on a blacklist?
Have you found out that your IP or domain is on a blacklist? Then it's important to find out the cause. Often, the blacklist provider will give you a reason why you were added. Remove suspicious accounts or malicious scripts, improve your email configuration, and submit a removal request to the relevant blacklist. This process can take a while, but if you show that the issues have been resolved, there's a good chance you'll be removed from the list again.
Improve cyber security?
There are countless ways your organization's cyber security can be improved. Of course, we can also help with the topic of blacklisting. A pentest is often a great starting point for a collaboration. During a penetration test, vulnerabilities in your software and systems are identified. The findings are reported and ultimately delivered to you. As an organization, you'll know exactly what steps to take to boost your cyber security. Read below to learn more about our 1-hour free pentest.