[Users] Errors on official forums

[L Mark Stone]

Hey Team,

I just got off a Zoom call with Spamhaus.  Noah likely hit the nail on the head. Basically, it works like this...

If you are doing lookups to <whatever>.spamhaus.org, (as we all did for years) that's likely to be a problem.  The .org servers are ONLY for home users and non-profits, and queries that come from the big public resolvers (Google 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4, OpenDNS etc.) are unsuccessful.

The volume of queries in the past few years has increased dramatically, so to better manage their infrastructure and filter out abusers, Spamhaus wants to know who is using their service.

You can still register for a free DQS account (if you qualify), and if you don't, or if you want the extra features, you can get a paid DQS account.  Either way, you'll then have an account key that queries <account key.whatever.spamhaus.net.

Queries to spamhaus.net servers can come from anywhere, even from Google, OpenDNS etc.  But because each query comes with a code, Spamhaus knows who is making the query, and whether a free user is exceeding the limits.

Barry covered this in his blog post a while back.

Bottom Line:

  1.  Register for a DQS account (free or paid).
  2.  Update your config and make sure you are querying spamhaus.net, not .org.
  3.

Hope that helps,
Mark

_________________________________________________

L. Mark Stone


________________________________
From: Barry de Graaff <info at barrydegraaff.nl>
Sent: Thursday, November 3, 2022 2:58 PM
To: L Mark Stone <lmstone at lmstone.com>
Cc: Tony Publiski <tonster at tonster.com>; users <users at lists.zetalliance.org>
Subject: Re: [Users] Errors on official forums

The result displayed on the forums is the same as what I have seen with
legitimate email blocking.

Spamhaus just rejects everything and does not do a lookup at all.

So it does not matter what your IP is or if it is listed.

On 2022-11-03 19:20, L Mark Stone wrote:
> What David is experiencing is exactly what I am experiencing trying
> to moderate the forums.
>
>  Similarly, my home office has a static IP. There are no servers here;
> nothing that would/could send out email, and a beefy security
> appliance on the front door anyway. When the forums say my IP is
> listed, the Spamhaus website says otherwise.
>
>  I've reached out to one of my customers who was experiencing this
> yesterday to ask them about their on-prem DNS setup, and their account
> status with Spamhaus.
>
>  I agree Noah's separate email quoting
> https://www.spamhaus.org/returnc/pub/ is likely describing the root
> cause, but I have a call with Spamhaus Support in 10 minutes so will
> post back what I learn.
>
>  All the best,
>  Mark
>
> _________________________________________________
>
> L. Mark Stone
>
> -------------------------
>
> From: Users <users-bounces at lists.zetalliance.org> on behalf of Tony
> Publiski via Users <users at lists.zetalliance.org>
> Sent: Thursday, November 3, 2022 12:59 PM
> To: Barry de Graaff <info at barrydegraaff.nl>
> Cc: users <users at lists.zetalliance.org>
> Subject: Re: [Users] Errors on official forums
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