Saturday, August 15, 2009

MBAM contraversal new IP blocking

MBAM new IP blocking has major flaws. The idea is good but the way it is executed needs work. The database of IP addresses it uses is the major problem. MBAM is trusting the source of that list as being accurate without testing each and every address listed, as it should do, for validity. They use the list from http://hosts-file.net, that list although updated regularly is outdated and needs a complete over haul. Currently I estimate that MBAM blocks more than 10,000 legitimate websites including business websites and emails. The 10,000 is a very conservative low number. For example this IP 64.202.189.170 belongs to GoDaddy.com all it is is a forwarding IP that GoDaddy uses for it's DNS server. Of the millions of GoDaddy customers who use their forwarding DNS if they install MBAM it will block access to all of those websites. MBAM does not check content of what it blocks it just relies on the truthfulness of the files supplied by hosts-file.net. I am not sure how many other web hosting companies are listed it this list but I am sure there are more then one. GoDaddy is aware of this blocking and I am sure they will be contacting MBAM about this so we will probably be seeing some changes made to MBAM's IP blocking. The concept is good but it does not work correctly.

On a personal note, I have had dealings with the owner of hosts-file.net in the past and he is not a very professional or smart person.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

100% agreed!

Lt Obvious said...

And the problem with blocking godaddy is what?

NOdaddy.com

people need to be re-educated about their registrar/webhost