64.202.189.170 - www.subaruchallenge.com

[Opiewho]

64.202.189.170 - www.subaruchallenge.com

False Positive, this is a website I run that is hosted by GoDaddy.com. There is nothing dangerous here. Please review.

[DragonMaster Jay]

Hello.

This IP contains a large amount of domains that are known for distributing malware and conducting malicious activities.

hpHosts

MDL

MalwareURL

These three sites list that IP, which means malware and malicious activity is the reason why the IP is blocked.

[DragonMaster Jay]

Please see this topic for help concerning IP protection.

[whatmeworry?]

This IP contains a large amount of domains that are known for distributing malware and conducting malicious activities.

I feel very reluctant to take issue with Malwarebytes' normally infallible judgment, but like the original poster I seriously question blocking access to the huge number of sites hosted by GoDaddy. That's rather like blocking access to mail from Gmail because lots of spammers use Gmail accounts. I just tried to go to the site http://www.atwdrivers.com/, a site from the highly respectable Answers That Work (who produce the software program The Ultimate Troubleshooter). Apparently they use GoDaddy to host this site, as do thousands of other legitimate people and companies. I couldn't access the site until I turned off IP Protection. It seems to me that if IP Protection is going to be useful--indeed, if it's going to be used--it has to make much more precise discriminations than it apparently does at present.

[DragonMaster Jay]

Hello, friend. I would not necessarily think that Malwarebytes would block every GoDaddy domain. Even MysteryFCM can agree to that. However, GoDaddy has been known for bad customer reports, and does not "pre-screen" domains beforehand.

What bothers me about GoDaddy is that they verify their own site. They provide their own certificates, and are a TRUSTe (2) seal holder as well. The big thing to note, though, is that they significantly miss the verification side. It does not make their company bad, but like other good companies, they have their issues. This is also not to say, that ALL of their domains are bad. Just a group of them. Many are under the same IP.

Now the deal with GoDaddy hosted sites, and ad-based networking. Some websites, like the one you noted, seem to have ads on their page, and when the ad is blocked, the entire site is blocked. If it were me, I would make a suggestion to only block ads with bad IPs instead of the entire domain. Using a smarter technology, Malwarebytes will become a great ad-blocker using IP protection, as well. It is not so much this is a bad technology or good technology, what matters is how smart it works. It would be a great idea to point it out. Take a look here, and you will see the labeling and WhoIs data on that IP. It will be of great assistance to both of you. Thankfully, MysteryFCM has put together an amazing database, and does really well managing it.

In fact, it would be good if he commented here on this topic, as well.

Overall, I think it will be an advantageous technology and raise Malwarebytes up to the top-of-the-line technology. Many of the best malware experts work for Malwarebytes and I am glad to see this technology do so well.

[whatmeworry?]

Now the deal with GoDaddy hosted sites, and ad-based networking. Some websites, like the one you noted, seem to have ads on their page, and when the ad is blocked, the entire site is blocked.

Thanks, Jay, for your response. However, I must point out that the website I noted has at most ONE "ad" on this page. I put "ad" in quotation marks because the site is from Answers That Work and the "ad" is merely an offer for their main product, The Ultimate Troubleshooter. Surely it's legitimate for a company to put an ad for one of its products on its site. Why should this ad be blocked???

[MysteryFCM]

Apologies for taking so long to see this. This IP is currently blocked due to 233 malicious domains being present, and the owner of the IP range, failing to respond to abuse reports;

http://hosts-file.net/?s=atwdrivers.com

http://hosts-file.net/?s=64.202.189.170&view=matches

[whatmeworry?]

Apologies for taking so long to see this. This IP is currently blocked due to 233 malicious domains being present, and the owner of the IP range, failing to respond to abuse reports;

http://hosts-file.net/?s=atwdrivers.com

http://hosts-file.net/?s=64.202.189.170&view=matches

Thanks, MysterFCM, for your response. I clicked on the first of the two URLs you provided, and it took me to an hpHosts page that said:

"This site is NOT currently listed in hpHosts."

It seems to me that if IP Protection is going to be useful, it needs to differentiate between legitimate sites and problematic sites much more carefully than it currently does. If IP Protection stops browsers from going to a highly legitimate site like www.atwdrivers.com, I suspect that many people will simply turn it off. In fact, instead of being an additional valuable feature that creates more customers for Anti-Malware Pro, it could turn out to be an annoyance that drives people away.

Please understand that I offer this criticism as someone who loves MBAM and wants to see the company thrive.

[DragonMaster Jay]

Thanks, Jay, for your response. However, I must point out that the website I noted has at most ONE "ad" on this page. I put "ad" in quotation marks because the site is from Answers That Work and the "ad" is merely an offer for their main product, The Ultimate Troubleshooter. Surely it's legitimate for a company to put an ad for one of its products on its site. Why should this ad be blocked???

If the advertisement is loaded in to an advertising marketing initiative, (like Tribal Fusion, Doubleclick, etc) then it will be blocked. I have seen many sites where the company had the ad hosted in through the marketing network, instead of their own site. This would be why it is blocked.

Thanks, MysterFCM, for your response. I clicked on the first of the two URLs you provided, and it took me to an hpHosts page that said:

"This site is NOT currently listed in hpHosts."

It seems to me that if IP Protection is going to be useful, it needs to differentiate between legitimate sites and problematic sites much more carefully than it currently does. If IP Protection stops browsers from going to a highly legitimate site like www.atwdrivers.com, I suspect that many people will simply turn it off. In fact, instead of being an additional valuable feature that creates more customers for Anti-Malware Pro, it could turn out to be an annoyance that drives people away.

Please understand that I offer this criticism as someone who loves MBAM and wants to see the company thrive.

Like I said above, if the technology improves, it will only block the ad, and not the site. See what I mean? And your criticism is good, because it is constructive (it is meant to help improve based on opinion). If you were giving destructive criticism (bad customer experience or general hate), then you would explain yourself. MBAM is always developing, and if it weren't for user opinons, it would be hard to figure out what needs fixed. Remember, the user's safety on the Internet, and how the product works for the user -- are most important.

[whatmeworry?]

If the advertisement is loaded in to an advertising marketing initiative, (like Tribal Fusion, Doubleclick, etc) then it will be blocked. I have seen many sites where the company had the ad hosted in through the marketing network, instead of their own site. This would be why it is blocked.

Thanks, Jay. What you say makes sense, but I don't think it applies to the site I've mentioned. As far as I can tell (by looking at URLs and using AdBlock Plus), the only ad on that site is not hosted through a marketing network but simply originates on/is hosted by that site. I have no vested interest in this site or the company, except that I do use their very helpful software program The Ultimate Troubleshooter.

I just want to be sure that Malwarebytes refines its IP Protection feature in a way that will make it truly useful.

[DolphinsDen]

I talked to godaddy about this situation and was told that there was no way to clear this ip since it is used by thousands of domain names. Is there anyway malwarebytes can work with godaddy on resolving this on a domain by domain basis? I have many sites forwarded using godaddy's servers, but cannot access a single one because of the intrusion protection. I hate to turn the intrusion protection off, but at the same time I cannot log into my sites.

[MysteryFCM]

I've actually tried contacting GoDaddy several times about this, and have never received a response (tried via phone and was just told to e-mail their abuse dept, which is what I had already been doing).