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What Ward checks

Area: Reputation and impersonation

Blocklists

Whether your IPs (website, email and SPF senders) and your domain are on public email blocklists (DNSBL), telling a real listing apart from a rejected query. The report says which lists were checked.

What it can report

Open each one to see what it means and how to fix it.

Domain or address on a blocklist

What it means

example.com appears on Spamhaus DBL, a public list of domains used in spam, phishing or fraud. Mail services and browsers can use such lists to decide what to block.

What could happen

Emails and links that use your domain may be blocked or marked as dangerous, which hurts delivery and trust. It can also mean your site or mail was misused. Only services that use this list are affected.

How an attacker would use it

Someone gets into your website or a mailbox and uses your domain to send phishing or host a fake page. The list picks it up, and soon the messages and links that carry your name are blocked, including the legitimate ones.

How to fix it

  1. Check whether your website or mail has been compromised: unknown pages, strange redirects, mailboxes sending without your knowledge.
  2. Clean it and change all passwords (hosting, website admin, mail and DNS).
  3. Find how it happened and close that route, such as an outdated plugin.
  4. Request removal on Spamhaus DBL's website once it's clean.
  5. Check that your mail authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is in place so your domain isn't easy to forge.

How to check it's fixed

Ward checks Spamhaus DBL again. Removal can take a few days after you request it. Mark the finding as “Pending verification” and Ward will check it again within a minute or two. Once the problem is gone, it moves to “Resolved” on its own.

Who usually fixes it

Your IT person

Example with sample data. In your dashboard, the explanation uses your own domain and details.