Why was an IP address blocked by Staq Firewall?

Staq’s Firewall is a robust security feature designed to protect your WordPress site from malicious activity and unauthorized access. It actively monitors incoming requests, blocking suspicious IP addresses to safeguard your website’s integrity. Understanding why an IP address was blocked can help you manage your site’s security effectively.

Accessing Firewall Reports

To investigate blocked IP addresses, log into your Staq-hosted WordPress website and navigate to Staq Hosting > Firewall > Reports. Here, you can select a date/time range to view relevant data. The reports will display four columns:

• IP Address: The address that was blocked.
• Country of Origin: Where the request originated.
• Banned Status: Indicates whether the IP address is banned (Yes or No).
• Requests: The total number of requests made during the specified period.

If the status shows Yes under the Banned column, you can click on the IP address to see detailed information about the requests made. For example, you might find that a bot was blocked for visiting numerous pages, indicating non-human interaction with the website.

Reviewing Blocked IPs in Staq Panel

Inside the Staq Panel for your website, under the Security section, click on Firewall. This area lists all blocked IP addresses, and by hovering over the code, you can see the reason for the block. For instance, a RateLimit code indicates that too many 404 errors were generated, prompting the firewall to block the IP address. An example image appears below:

Types of Firewall Codes

In addition to RateLimit, other codes you may encounter include:

• Other: Manual ban.
• BlacklistedIP: The IP address has been blacklisted by credible third-party sources.
• MaliciousURLs: The form includes harmful URLs.
• BlacklistedEmail: The email used has been blacklisted by credible sources.
• UserEnumeration: Attempts to discover valid usernames.
• MultiSiteAttack: The same IP address has attacked other sites in the Staq network.
• AlreadyBannedByMUPlugin: The IP is already banned by the network.

Conclusion

By understanding how Staq’s Firewall functions and the reasons behind IP blocks, you can take informed actions to maintain your website’s security. If you trust a blocked IP address and wish to unblock it, follow our guide on how to unblock an IP address from Staq Firewall. To whitelist an IP address, refer to our guide on how to whitelist an IP address.