How to Delist from Mailspike

Email security is a big concern for many Internet users. Individuals and organizations need to protect their mailboxes from a huge volume of spam and phishing emails they receive daily. This is exactly what Mailspike has to offer.

What is Mailspike?

Mailspike is a free blacklist created of the IP addresses which have a bad reputation. Most of the IP addresses blacklisted by Mailspike are related to infected systems or to fraud spam servers.

When a recipient’s mailbox is protected with Mailspike, the recipient will not receive messages sent from blacklisted IP addresses because they are considered to be illegal.

According to Mailspike, the Mailspike services consist of two complementary data sets:

1. Reputation Data

   The reputation data is compiled on top of specific characteristics and over-time behavior of IP addresses seen sending a direct-to-MX email. The reputation data compiles a score which will dictate the likelihood of an IP address being used to send spam.

2. Zero-Hour Data

   Also known as ZBI, this data set lists IP addresses seen participating in a distributed spam wave. It does not take into consideration over-time IP behavior. Instead, it tries to detect viral behavior shared by one or more clusters of IP addresses.

If an IP address exists on the Mailspike list, typically it is because:

• a legitimate email account was compromised and was used to send spam, malware, or phishing emails;
• a compromised computer or server is controlled by spammers and is sending spam, malware or phishing emails.

How to Find Out If You Are Blacklisted by Mailspike?

The first indication of the IP being blacklisted by Mailspike will be your inability to deliver emails to some recipients with a bounce error like this:

"5.7.1 H:M11 [xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx] Connection refused due to abuse. Please see http://mailspike.org/iplookup.html or contact your E-mail provider."

To confirm that your IP is on the Mailspike blacklist, run the IP check on the Mailspike lookup page.

How to Remove IP from Mailspike

Do a lookup of the IP using the Mailspike’s lookup form, following the link mentioned above.

If the IP is blacklisted, you will see the “Request Delist” form on the results page.

Fill in the form and send the delisting request to Mailspike.

Delist requests are automatic and are fulfilled within one hour after submission.

How to Avoid Being Blacklisted by Mailspike Again

Now when you know how to delist from Mailspike, it is important that you take care of not being blacklisted again. Make sure to identify the root cause of blacklisting and fix it.

Some of the common reasons for an IP listing on Mailspike include:

1. Sending without permission.

   Any email sent without the recipient’s permission is considered spam. To prevent blacklisting of your IP address by Mailspike, it is important to seek the consent of the subscriber. If your list is stale enough, re-confirm the subscribers by sending a re-subscription campaign. Remove those who didn’t respond from the list.

2. Irrelevant content and/or misleading Subject line.

   It is wrong to mislead the recipient to increase conversion. An email with the content that doesn’t respond to the subscriber’s expectations or an email with a misleading Subject line where the content offers something different is likely to be flagged as spam. If the messages sent from your IP address frequently produce spam reports, your IP is likely to be added to the Mailspike blacklist.

3. Compromised server.

   Cyber-criminals can get control over an email server and send spam, malware, and phishing emails from your server without you knowing it. Check the server logs to make sure it sends only legitimate emails. If you notice spikes in volume that are not normal for your organization, it is a starting point for an investigation.

A lot of IP addresses are blacklisted by Mailspike, and one day you may be unfortunate to see your IP address on its list. Having the IP blacklisted can be frustrating but it’s not a disaster when you know how to delist the IP from Mailspike and how to reduce the risk of getting on the list again.

Additional Resources:

IP Blacklist Removal – How To Fix a Blacklisted IP Address
How To Remove Your IP From Yahoo Blacklist
How to Remove Your IP Address from Gmail’s Blacklist
How to Remove Your IP Address from the Hotmail/Outlook’s Blacklist