Country wide IP bans are being implemented

[AthenaOfDelphi]

Hi all,

I've tried to avoid this as much as possible but really at the moment, I'm left with little choice.

Due to increasing levels of hostile activity coming from certain countries directed at all the services I host (which include some commercial activities), I have little option but to implement a server level ban using the operating system firewall on traffic from the offending countries.

If you are a user from the following places, I'm very sorry but I have no real option but to implement these bans to ensure the continued security of my hosting solution. If you are lucky and have a fixed IP address, then I will consider (based on your activity, account age etc.) granting you access. Because the country level bans will affect your ability to email me (unless you have a gmail or hotmail account for example), you should be prepared to get in touch with me using alternative methods (Discord for example as I'm not on any chat systems other than that these days) just in case your IP address does change and you need me to edit the rule.

The countries that will be affected by this ban are:-

• China
• Russia

As I say, I can only apologies to legitimate users in these countries, but the security of my server is paramount and currently there seems to be a lot of people from those two countries trying to break it.

The bans will come into effect at some time on Sunday February 4th 2024, so get your rule requests and alternative lines of communication sorted before then.

[AthenaOfDelphi]

Just a quick note, if you've accessed the site in the last year or so, you should be in receipt of an email from me. Some of you had probably selected the 'no admin emails' option... given the nature of what's going on I felt it best to ignore that selection in this instance.

[Chebmaster]

Sad, but better this than something like the endless bot problem we have in Team Fortress 2.
*especially* if the same hosting is also used for vital things.
I guess those apes with grenades just don't know a decent way to apply their energy.

(Edit:- IP/DNS details removed by AthenaOfDelphi)

[AthenaOfDelphi]

Sad, but better this than something like the endless bot problem we have in Team Fortress 2.
*especially* if the same hosting is also used for vital things.
I guess those apes with grenades just don't know a decent way to apply their energy.

(Edit:- IP/DNS details removed by AthenaOfDelphi)

Yes, I had hoped to avoid it but for some reason my server seems to be getting a lot more attention than I would like so it's become necessary. I've noted down your details and I'm happy to provide an exception for you

[Chebmaster]

Thank you

[AthenaOfDelphi]

Unfortunately, I'm a little unwell at the moment so I've not been able to get this sorted. Will let you know when it's live.

[AthenaOfDelphi]

The countrywide bans for China and Russia are now active. If you notice any issues with accessing the forums, please let me know.

[Chebmaster]

Hi, ChebMaster here. Usually I wasn't able to connect even using a vpn but yesterday I switched my network settings to google dns/opendns ( 8.8.4.4 / 208.67.222.222 ) -- and suddenly got access. Without any vpn.
It's nice to be back but I am concerned about that block's reliability.

[AthenaOfDelphi]

Hi, ChebMaster here. Usually I wasn't able to connect even using a vpn but yesterday I switched my network settings to google dns/opendns ( 8.8.4.4 / 208.67.222.222 ) -- and suddenly got access. Without any vpn.
It's nice to be back but I am concerned about that block's reliability.

I suspect the issue is to do with the DNS resolution chain and the server that finally issues the query being blocked.

[SilverWarior]

Hi, ChebMaster here. Usually I wasn't able to connect even using a vpn but yesterday I switched my network settings to google dns/opendns ( 8.8.4.4 / 208.67.222.222 ) -- and suddenly got access. Without any vpn.
It's nice to be back but I am concerned about that block's reliability.

I bet you are either using Google Chrome or MS Edge right?
I have seen Chromium based browsers even bypassing some of the VPN blocks. It seems that in some cases Chromium based browsers use Google DNS instead of ISP DNS or does some kind of redirect that can't usually be detected by standard security systems.
For instance at work I have seen some workers being able to open sites from certain domains that are completely blocked by our work VPN if they are using Chrome or MS Edge, but they can't open those sites if using IE or FireFox. So this can be a potential security risk.