Troubleshooting e-mail access problems

Hosting.com’s top customer priority is making sure that customer websites are secure. Unfortunately, this sometimes means that email accounts become inaccessible due to too many failed login attempts. The email account might appear inaccessible but is still available through webmail. Fortunately, this is an issue that can be quickly resolved by our friendly and knowledgeable support staff!

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Tip

Don't panic! Even though the email account cannot be accessed through an email client (such as Outlook) the account is still available. Email accounts can still be accessed via webmail.

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Important

What can I do? Historically speaking, the culprit in this situation is typically another device that the email account is hosted on. Old phones, tablets, or even the account from someone on vacation trying to repeatedly login have caused this issue in the past. Logging the email account out of all possible devices is extremely important.

Why is this happening?

There are several different ways that an IP address could be banned by way of attempting to gain access to the email account. Repeated login attempts are often the result of brute force attempts, or from a user attempting to gain access. Usually, this is caused by an email client (Outlook, Thunderbird, Evolution, Mailbird, etc.) periodically attempting to check for any new mail, prompting a failed login.

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Note

Brute force attack Numerous repeated attempts in an attempt to gain access to protected information. Often used to gain access to email accounts, pin numbers for bank accounts, and online accounts.

IP bans result from thirty failed login attempts in one hour, whereas 50 attempts in an hour will result in the email becoming inaccessible from any IP address. This protects accounts from a possible distributed attack and ensures the safety of the account. The affected email account is only accessible via webmail.

Unaware of the email address causing the issue?

If you’re not aware of which email address is blocking access to your mail client, reach out to customer support at https://my.hosting.com, where customer support representatives can help narrow down which particular email address(es) are causing the situation.

Aware of the email address causing the issue?

If you’re aware of what email address is blocking access, check all of the possible devices that the banned email account is currently logged in on and log the account out (if possible.) This will force the email to stop attempting to automatically log in. You can reset the password of the affected account if you feel comfortable doing so. After logging the email account out of any possible devices (and resetting the password), contact support at https://my.hosting.com. They can help verify if the account is truly under attack or if the culprit is faulty login attempts.

Reach out to customer support

If you suspect that your IP address is banned due to a faulty email login, please log the email account out of any devices to prevent any further attempts or bans. Then contact customer support at https://my.hosting.com, where a customer support representative will help resolve the situation.

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