"Dangerous Web Page Blocked"

Yeah I've been trying to avoid the downtime and moving the email hosting as well. 

I'll talk with the client about that as a solution. Thanks everybody. 

This may help you also, This letter is from Susana our Forum Admin at Squarespace. 

Hi everyone, 

I'd like to start by clarifying that when you transfer a domain to be hosted by Squarespace, this doesn’t automatically transfer your email hosting to Squarespace as well. Domain and email hosting are two different services. 

If you already have a custom email address setup for your domain, you can keep it with the company through which you set this service up if you would like. While transferring your domain to Squarespace you were given the option to transfer your email account’s MX records (the records responsible for handling your email), which allow you to keep using the email service. However, you will need to make sure that you keep the email service active with your provider, so you can be able to keep using it. As a note, if you keep the email service with them, you’ll still manage your email account with your original provider.

Before transferring your domain to Squarespace, we always recommend contacting your current email provider to ensure that there won’t be any restrictions or issues by moving to Squarespace. We also recommend backing up any essential emails, contacts, or settings you may need.

There might be some downtime on your email during the transfer. Check this FAQ on our help center more specifics. 

To stop using your email provider and move your email account to Squarespace, you can create a Google Workspace account that’s managed through your Squarespace site. This allows you to keep the same email address, but creates an entirely new account with new inboxes and billing managed by Squarespace. There are more details on this setup in this help article. 

For any further questions you might have about this, feel free to reach to Squarespace Customer Support for personalized assistance. 

2 hours ago, cami_leisk said:

So I followed that lead -- that it is an issue with the domain provider, Network Solutions. 

Network solutions said that because they don't host the site, they cant see where or what the malware is and to contact squarespace because it's not their fault essentially. 

NS is essentially correct in that it's not their fault as a domain name registrar the only thing a registrar does is begin to answer the question where is something on the internet when you ask for a URL. The DNS system basically binds text names we like to IP addresses we don't like. It's like using an old phone book to find a name so you can call the number.

Quote

When I checked the perma link (https://triceratops-finch-ad9c.squarespace.com) it's scan came back clean.

I doubt that SS is at fault given that the built-in domain came back clean.

Here is one possibility. The domain itself is on a blacklist that various tools use to flag sites as a threat. Blacklists are notoriously unreliable. They are abused by their providers and consumers. Again this is not a domain registrars or SS problem, they have no control of who puts a domain name or IP address on a blacklist. Getting a domain name or IP address off a blacklist can be difficult to impossible because blacklists by their very nature are flawed.

Thanks for this @derricksrandomviews ! I think this might be our next move. 

In other news! I was able to get the site unblocked from Spectrum by threatening legal action. I was encouraged by someone who recently did the same thing and when I resubmitted the site to be unblocked (for the 5th or 6th time), I added a note in the comments that a friend of mine got their site unblocked by threatening legal action and that it really wasn't a route I wanted to pursue, but I was running out of options. I just received a confirmation email that my request was granted with a note, "We have reviewed and approved your request to unblock thefrench-farmhouse.com. We found this website was incorrectly blocked and is safe to visit. To prevent this from happening again, we’ll update our security rating for this website. This process can take up to 48 hours to complete."

So there's a win! It's clearly getting flagged still is some corners of the internet / internet providers so it's not a full solution, but at least we're chipping away.

@rotanzdesign Well done! To add to @creedon's comments above, I checked the site earlier today and couldn't find any genuine security concerns with the site either. Also, for future reference, changing the domain host won't make any difference to this type of issue. 

Wow, thank you everyone for so much information and ideas. I'll couch the domain transfer for the moment as it seems like from what @creedon and @paul2009 are saying it may not help at all -- and I'll just be putting my clients site and email service down for no reason. @rotanzdesign I'm going to try this same thing and cross my fingers! 

I will add that this domain (lloydpottery.com) was first registered 25 years ago so there has been ample time for it to be put on a blacklist and then not taken off when the domain changed hands and was no longer unsafe. 

The little part of the puzzle that has me scratching my head is that this site was showing up fine for spectrum users until about a week ago. 

On 1/19/2024 at 12:23 PM, cami_leisk said:

The little part of the puzzle that has me scratching my head is that this site was showing up fine for spectrum users until about a week ago.

If this issue is actually a blacklist issue there are several scenarios.

Spectrum or one of their providers of blacklists integrated another blacklist with the domain on it and bingo, you get flagged. See what I mean about blacklists are bad. There is no control, no authority, no verification, no appeals.

Someone has reported your domain recently. They have some axe to grind. They report, there is no recognized body that controls standards for blacklists and bingo., you get flagged.

Unfortunately blacklists are here and they are used. Some blacklists do try to provide quality information and I think some have some kind of review process. But without some kind of body that sets some standards blacklists are basically a free for all.

Now in @rotanzdesign case they were able to get Spectrum to put their domain on a Spectrum whitelist most likely. So the domain is probably still on someones blacklist but is now overridden by the whitelist.

All this of course is just a guess of what is actually happening.

Hi, 

A user received the message "Dangerous Web Page Blocked" & "this is a known dangerous webpage" when trying to visit my Squarespace site. Is there something wrong with my security settings? 

Thanks! 

Hi... Our website www.ekamtheseries.com has been blocked by one of the local ISP. None of the users from the region are able to access the website. When we checked with the ISP, their technical guy told us that IP addresses associated with our website were involved in a DDoS attack on their servers, and hence, they were prompted to block our website for security purposes. I am not a technical guy, and hence, do not fully understand the cause or the fix to the issue. Any help or guidance would be much appreciated. We have raised a customer support request with Squarespace, but are awaiting a reply.

On 1/19/2024 at 8:28 AM, rotanzdesign said:

Thanks for this @derricksrandomviews ! I think this might be our next move. 

In other news! I was able to get the site unblocked from Spectrum by threatening legal action. I was encouraged by someone who recently did the same thing and when I resubmitted the site to be unblocked (for the 5th or 6th time), I added a note in the comments that a friend of mine got their site unblocked by threatening legal action and that it really wasn't a route I wanted to pursue, but I was running out of options. I just received a confirmation email that my request was granted with a note, "We have reviewed and approved your request to unblock thefrench-farmhouse.com. We found this website was incorrectly blocked and is safe to visit. To prevent this from happening again, we’ll update our security rating for this website. This process can take up to 48 hours to complete."

So there's a win! It's clearly getting flagged still is some corners of the internet / internet providers so it's not a full solution, but at least we're chipping away.

Wow I am experiencing the exact same thing. May I ask in more specificity what type of legal action you threatened to use? Thank you so much.

You might consider messaging Rotanzdesign about her legal action. 

23 hours ago, LauraLeigh said:

Wow I am experiencing the exact same thing. May I ask in more specificity what type of legal action you threatened to use? Thank you so much.

 

@LauraLeigh I was very vague and said something like I'd be looking into pursuing legal action. That seemed to be the only thing needed. Worth trying! 

On 8/22/2024 at 6:56 AM, rotanzdesign said:

@LauraLeigh I was very vague and said something like I'd be looking into pursuing legal action. That seemed to be the only thing needed. Worth trying! 

Did you just mention that on their site unblocking form under notes or to someone on the phone? Thanks for your help- I have tried to add it into the form yet continue to get denied. Losing my mind here.

19 hours ago, LauraLeigh said:

Did you just mention that on their site unblocking form under notes or to someone on the phone? Thanks for your help- I have tried to add it into the form yet continue to get denied. Losing my mind here.

@LauraLeigh I just added it to the notes in the form submission. Sorry you're still dealing with this!!