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Q: Proofpoint blocking email

It seems that iCloud and @mac.com email servers are using Proofpoint for spam filtering.

 

We run a web hosting and email service company.  Proofpoint has blocked on of our IP addresses.  I have been trying for weeks to get a hold of someone at Proofpoint to get the IP delisted or to provide more information about the blacklist entry.  I'm not getting any responses.

 

If I were running the iCloud mail servers, I would strongly consider dropping Proofpoint as an email filtering system, since they seem to have fallen off the face of the earth.

 

The error message being returned by your server - mx3.mac.com.akadns.net (17.172.34.65) - is:

 

550 5.7.0 Blocked - see https://support.proofpoint.com/dnsbl-lookup.cgi?ip=aa.bb.cc.dd: XX@mac.com

 

If someone with iCloud's server administration can provide me with a contact email address, I will send you the IP address that is being blocked.  If you can contact Proofpoint about this blacklisting it would be helpful.

 

I will also note that Proofpoint's lookup on our IP shows:

 

Most Recently Seen as Spam 03/01/2013 15:06:49 GMT

 

That was over 3 months ago.  Proofpoint is not maintaining their blacklist and is not providing a solid service.

 

We have filled out their form multiple times.  Two times:

 

05/30/13 - Request ID: 339705 - No Response

06/04/13 - Request ID: 340674 - No Response

 

If someone from iCloud wants to ask Proofpoint why they are not responding to the submissions on their form, there are two Request IDs.

Posted on Jun 5, 2013 1:02 PM

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Q: Proofpoint blocking email

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  • by Star Traveler,

    Star Traveler Star Traveler Nov 8, 2014 3:24 PM in response to Riduna73
    Level 4 (1,612 points)
    Apple TV
    Nov 8, 2014 3:24 PM in response to Riduna73

    Riduna73 wrote:

     

    Like the previous poster I would suggest to Apple that they reconsider their use of Proofpoint spam filtering.

     

    Then you you better go somewhere ... where APPLE IS ... if you want to say something to them!

     

    Apple Support

    http://www.apple.com/support/

     

    Contacting Apple

    http://www.apple.com/contact/

  • by Star Traveler,

    Star Traveler Star Traveler Nov 8, 2014 3:35 PM in response to apollothethird
    Level 4 (1,612 points)
    Apple TV
    Nov 8, 2014 3:35 PM in response to apollothethird

    apollothethird wrote:

     

    Since the forum has "apple.com" in it's name, I'd hope that the Apple support people would have some interest in the discussions happening here.  I hope they visit and make sure it's something they don't mind being identified with.

     

     

    APPLE doesn't come here ... only moderators to enforce the Terms of Use. This is a forum of "users helping other users" in order to implement solutions that they can do on their own.

     

    Since they are apparently ignoring the users who are already trying to get help ...

     

    You shouldn't be spouting lies ... even if it is from total ignorance of the matter. Apple doesn't ignore the customers of Apple who are trying to get help. There are great numbers of Apple Support help set up to help all customers.

     

    Apple Support

    http://www.apple.com/support/

     

    Apple Retail Store - Genius Bar

    http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

     

    Contacting Apple

    http://www.apple.com/contact/

  • by apollothethird,

    apollothethird apollothethird Jun 14, 2016 2:12 PM in response to Star Traveler
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 14, 2016 2:12 PM in response to Star Traveler

    Star Traveler wrote:

     

    apollothethird wrote:

     

    Since the forum has "apple.com" in it's name, I'd hope that the Apple support people would have some interest in the discussions happening here.  I hope they visit and make sure it's something they don't mind being identified with.

     

     

    APPLE doesn't come here ... only moderators to enforce the Terms of Use. This is a forum of "users helping other users" in order to implement solutions that they can do on their own.

     

    Since they are apparently ignoring the users who are already trying to get help ...

     

    You shouldn't be spouting lies ... even if it is from total ignorance of the matter. Apple doesn't ignore the customers of Apple who are trying to get help. There are great numbers of Apple Support help set up to help all customers.

     

    Apple Support

    http://www.apple.com/support/

     

    Apple Retail Store - Genius Bar

    http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

     

    Contacting Apple

    http://www.apple.com/contact/

     

    First I would like to express appreciation for your taking the time to reply to my message, even though the reply appears to come in an admonished tone.  I'll try to explain my position, which is intended in the spirit of what, hopefully, is the spirit and intent of this forum.

     

    Star Traveler wrote:

     

    apollothethird wrote:

     

    Since the forum has "apple.com" in it's name, I'd hope that the Apple support people would have some interest in the discussions happening here.  I hope they visit and make sure it's something they don't mind being identified with.

     

     

    APPLE doesn't come here ... only moderators to enforce the Terms of Use. This is a forum of "users helping other users" in order to implement solutions that they can do on their own.

    I found this "discussion" forum when I searched for support on the problem that I was having.  I read the whole thread and tried to use the solutions provided.  I went into the provided links.  Everything I went into appeared to point back https://discussions.apple.com/ for support.  When I signed up for what apple.com appears to be providing as a support remedy to the users and posted a message I got ab apple support survey form from Apollo asking me to rate the experience of using it ( https://discussions.apple.com/ ).  Please look at the attached image.apple-support-survey-form.png

    I didn't fill it out at the time because I didn't know how I'd be treated.  I understand that you're saying that this forum has nothing to do with Apollo.  However, it doesn't appear that way when browsing the Apple website trying to get support.  Also, even if it were as you put it, nothing to do with Apollo, I would still expect a more friendly way of helping the users who stumble into this area trying to find help.  I would hope that the moderators, or some advance users would have found some type of method to call some issues to the attention of the host benefactor of this site.  If Microsoft were hosting my site at microsoft.com to give "community" support for users of Microsoft products, I'd certainly feel some sense of concern to use whatever connections I with them to give back as appreciation, some feedback for problems the users were having... this would be doubly the case if my site were posted on the Microsoft official site as a support resource.

     

    I appreciate the new links that you have given.  I'll try those also.  I hope you don't mind my coming back to report on the results that I experience.  I also hope that if anyone finds a resolution to this problem that they update it to this thread which is already over a year old without a solution.

     

    Star Traveler wrote:

     

    apollothethird wrote:

     

    Since they are apparently ignoring the users who are already trying to get help ...

     

    You shouldn't be spouting lies ... even if it is from total ignorance of the matter. Apple doesn't ignore the customers of Apple who are trying to get help. There are great numbers of Apple Support help set up to help all customers.

    Please understand that I am not spouting lies.  I made comments based on what I have already read and experienced.  My company provides an email service to many prominent people and businesses.  At present some of them are having problems with the icloud email delivery.  I have been trying to give them support, but all my efforts so far have been ignored.  Again, I found this forum where others are experiencing the same thing that I'm experiencing.  There is a good chance that I might gain success by the feedback that you're giving me.  I'll certainly try everything that you offer.  If it works, as I mentioned above I'll come back and share it with others in the community.

     

    Please read my message again.  I didn't say Apple was ignoring their users.  So far it has been apparent based on what some of the users have written in this thread, and based on my personal experience to try to get a resolution to the problem.

     

    And by the way, I am not a direct customer of Apple.  I am an IT support technician for people who are trying to communicate with customers of Apple.  In my effort to give support to my customers (who are not customers of Apple) I actually bought an Iphone in my effort to be able to communicate with the Apple people.

     

    I am very sincere in trying to get a resolution to the email delivery to people that are using icloud.com for their email service.  So far it's much harder than trying to get support for my clients who are trying to send email to email clients of yahoo.com, microsoft.com, gmail.com, and just about all the other dot comes that I have experienced in the over twenty years of providing email service.

     

    — *****

     

    <Personal Information Edited by Host>

  • by Star Traveler,

    Star Traveler Star Traveler Nov 10, 2014 11:36 AM in response to Star Traveler
    Level 4 (1,612 points)
    Apple TV
    Nov 10, 2014 11:36 AM in response to Star Traveler

    For "Gman71882"

     

    You JUST signed up today, so you had to have read the "Terms of Use" here, since you agreed to them. Take note ...

     

    Stay on topic. Apple Support Communities is here to help people use Apple products and technologies more effectively. Unless otherwise noted, do not add Submissions about nontechnical topics, including:

      1. Speculations or rumors about unannounced products.
      2. Discussions of Apple policies or procedures or speculation on Apple decisions.

    Post constructive comments and questions. Unless otherwise noted, your Submission should either be a technical support question or a technical support answer.


    ========== ========== ==========


    This is a "users helping other users" forum ... in which the following format is followed ... (1) a users asks for a solution that he can implement on his device himself, then (2) another user gives him the solution that he can implement on his device by himself. END OF STORY ...


    If you have something to "say to Apple" then go to their "FEEDBACK" ... where they have set up a special link for you ...


    Product Feedback

    https://www.apple.com/feedback/


    If you cannot find another user here who knows of a solution that you can implement for your Apple device, then go to the OFFICIAL APPLE SUPPORT where Apple helps all its customers ...


    Apple Support

    http://www.apple.com/support/

     

    Apple Retail Store - Genius Bar

    http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

     

    Contacting Apple

    http://www.apple.com/contact/


    If you've got some theories about what Apple should do, isn't doing or whatever, or some conspiracy theories that you have cooked up on your head, or you're here to GRIPE ... just GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!


    I hope that clears it up for you.


  • by Star Traveler,

    Star Traveler Star Traveler Nov 10, 2014 11:43 AM in response to apollothethird
    Level 4 (1,612 points)
    Apple TV
    Nov 10, 2014 11:43 AM in response to apollothethird

    apollothethird wrote:

     

    First I would like to express appreciation for your taking the time to reply to my message, even though the reply appears to come in an admonished tone.  I'll try to explain my position, which is intended in the spirit of what, hopefully, is the spirit and intent of this forum.


    ---------- ---------- -----------


    This is what I posted to Gman, but the moderators deleted his post (for good reason ... namely flagrant violation of the Terms of Use here).


    For "Gman71882"

     

    You JUST signed up today, so you had to have read the "Terms of Use" here, since you agreed to them. Take note ...

     

    Stay on topic. Apple Support Communities is here to help people use Apple products and technologies more effectively. Unless otherwise noted, do not add Submissions about nontechnical topics, including:

      1. Speculations or rumors about unannounced products.
      2. Discussions of Apple policies or procedures or speculation on Apple decisions.

    Post constructive comments and questions. Unless otherwise noted, your Submission should either be a technical support question or a technical support answer.


    ========== ========== ==========


    This is a "users helping other users" forum ... in which the following format is followed ... (1) a users asks for a solution that he can implement on his device himself, then (2) another user gives him the solution that he can implement on his device by himself. END OF STORY ...


    If you have something to "say to Apple" then go to their "FEEDBACK" ... where they have set up a special link for you ...


    Product Feedback

    https://www.apple.com/feedback/


    If you cannot find another user here who knows of a solution that you can implement for your Apple device, then go to the OFFICIAL APPLE SUPPORT where Apple helps all its customers ...


    Apple Support

    http://www.apple.com/support/

     

    Apple Retail Store - Genius Bar

    http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

     

    Contacting Apple

    http://www.apple.com/contact/


    If you've got some theories about what Apple should do, isn't doing or whatever, or some conspiracy theories that you have cooked up on your head, or you're here to GRIPE ... just GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!


    I hope that clears it up for you.


    ========== =========== ==========


    NOW ... I can think about all sorts of "warm and fuzzy" things to talk about here, that many would find quite interesting and they would problably like it. HOWEVER, it wouldn't fit into the "Terms of Use" here no matter "what kind of spirit" I submitted it here for, or no matter how nice I was, or no matter how I explained why others should listen to it or be interested in it or pay attention to it. It all might be worthwhile - EXCEPT FOR THE FACT it doesn't relate to THIS FORUM.


  • by apollothethird,

    apollothethird apollothethird Jun 14, 2016 2:12 PM in response to Star Traveler
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 14, 2016 2:12 PM in response to Star Traveler

    Star Traveler wrote:

     

    apollothethird wrote:

     

    First I would like to express appreciation for your taking the time to reply to my message, even though the reply appears to come in an admonished tone.  I'll try to explain my position, which is intended in the spirit of what, hopefully, is the spirit and intent of this forum.


    ---------- ---------- -----------


    This is what I posted to Gman, but the moderators deleted his post (for good reason ... namely flagrant violation of the Terms of Use here).


    For "Gman71882"

     

    You JUST signed up today, so you had to have read the "Terms of Use" here, since you agreed to them. Take note ...

     

    Stay on topic. Apple Support Communities is here to help people use Apple products and technologies more effectively. Unless otherwise noted, do not add Submissions about nontechnical topics, including:

      1. Speculations or rumors about unannounced products.
      2. Discussions of Apple policies or procedures or speculation on Apple decisions.

    Post constructive comments and questions. Unless otherwise noted, your Submission should either be a technical support question or a technical support answer.


    ========== ========== ==========


    This is a "users helping other users" forum ... in which the following format is followed ... (1) a users asks for a solution that he can implement on his device himself, then (2) another user gives him the solution that he can implement on his device by himself. END OF STORY ...


    If you have something to "say to Apple" then go to their "FEEDBACK" ... where they have set up a special link for you ...


    Product Feedback

    https://www.apple.com/feedback/


    If you cannot find another user here who knows of a solution that you can implement for your Apple device, then go to the OFFICIAL APPLE SUPPORT where Apple helps all its customers ...


    Apple Support

    http://www.apple.com/support/

     

    Apple Retail Store - Genius Bar

    http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

     

    Contacting Apple

    http://www.apple.com/contact/


    If you've got some theories about what Apple should do, isn't doing or whatever, or some conspiracy theories that you have cooked up on your head, or you're here to GRIPE ... just GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!


    I hope that clears it up for you.


    ========== =========== ==========


    NOW ... I can think about all sorts of "warm and fuzzy" things to talk about here, that many would find quite interesting and they would problably like it. HOWEVER, it wouldn't fit into the "Terms of Use" here no matter "what kind of spirit" I submitted it here for, or no matter how nice I was, or no matter how I explained why others should listen to it or be interested in it or pay attention to it. It all might be worthwhile - EXCEPT FOR THE FACT it doesn't relate to THIS FORUM.


    I appreciate the fact that you haven't deleted my messages.  I am as diplomatic as I can be.  I read the message before it was deleted and I believe it has a lot of merit.  I believe it's unfortunate that it can't stay with the thread.  The user, as he mentioned, has gone through the same problems that a number of the other good Apple users (including me) are going through.  As far as I can see and understand, his message, just like this thread isn't speculations.  He spoke facts, just as I, and everyone else.  His mail to icloud.com is being blocked.  Icloud.com is a real product that many people use.  I don't think they should be afraid to try to get support for this product.  It's an Apple product on the Apple web page.

     

    I followed all the links that you gave me and couldn't find a resolution or a reference to a resolution to the problem.  Following those links gave me only two places where I could type (that I could find).  One of them is a feedback page.  When I clicked on the feedback page it takes me to a link that has a form which states at the top of the form "please note that we cannot respond to the comments you submit".  There is also a link on that page that brings the user back to this forum to submit his problem for support.    While it's clear that some of the moderators disagree, it really appears that, as expected for a company who hosts a "support" site, they think the users can get support here.

     

    I am an IT service provider for a number of some very prominent businesses and professional people.  I'm almost tempted to mention the name of one of our most prominent businesses.  People often drop big names to get clout or be heard.  But I hope the support and respect will be equal even for the smallest guy.

     

    One the business (nationally) provided Ipads and email addresses to all their delegates.  Now the organization is having problems with mail delivery.  Because of the maze that I was going through trying to give support to my clients (who I had already advised to contact their email providers, I purchased an Iphone so that I could test and verify the problem they were having, also so that I can get support for the device, since that appeared to be the only way to get support here.

     

    After two weeks I've gotten just one message back from "support@apple.com", nothing from "support@icloud.com", and nothing from support@proofpoint.com.  Also I have gotten nothing from the form they provide with the bounced mail.  The message I got from "support@apple.com" told me to come to this forum for support.

     

    I am a customer.  The information I'm providing you with are not lies.  They are not rumors.  I can show you any documents and to support the problems that I'm having.

     

    Hopefully you will not delete my message, but will offer whatever help you can to this real problem.  I'm also hoping that the least that will happen is that if you do have some connection to your benefactor of this forum, you will at least forward a link to this thread to them.  I have the type of confidence that you have expressed, that Apple won't truly ignore or abandon it's customers.  Hopefully forum can function as the way you described where the users can help each other learn how to identify their problems and get them resolved.

     

    I do this all the time and have been doing it for over 20 years.

     

    Again, I'm following all the advise that you are giving me (except for the part to go somewhere else).  I'm also giving you the results of what I'm getting when I follow your advise.

     

    Since there are more than one thread discussing this problem, it's clear that it's on going.  Most of the threads have the users met with "go somewhere else".  But I'm trying, in what I hope is the spirit of the intent of this forum, identify and define the problem so that the whole community who is having problems receiving emails from their friends, family, and business contacts to their Iphones can have this issue resolved.

     

    There is a chance that Apple might not know that "proofpoint" is going beyond what they are hired to do.  If we are allowed to ask questions and have discussion on this serious matter, Apple will have the chance to learn and fix the problem.

     

    Thanks in advance if you won't delete my message, like you did the other user's message.  You have already stated that you can't do anything.  But if you will at least leave it up, I can send a link to this thread to Apple's support team.  They might in conjunction with fixing this the mail delivery problem to the Iphone, provide a real support mechanism, or clarify to the moderators that they expect for the product to actually be supported here.

     

    -- L. James

     

    --

    L. D. James

    *******apollo3.com

     

    <Email and Personal Information Edited by Host>

  • by c00kies,

    c00kies c00kies Nov 30, 2014 9:35 PM in response to apollothethird
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 30, 2014 9:35 PM in response to apollothethird

    Hi L.D.

     

    I hope your clients have found a solution... This has apparently been going on for years.

     

    Others have reported similar experiences in the news:

    - http://www.mcelhearn.com/apples-silent-email-filtering-is-just-plain-wrong/

    - http://www.macworld.com/article/2029570/silent-email-filtering-makes-icloud-an-u nreliable-option.html


    So, those who are looking for a solution that involves continuing to use iCloud for important emails are kind of out of luck... We've been dealing with the same issue ourselves at my company. We tried to work around it but sadly we've finally decided to discontinue using iPhones and iPads for business.

     

    Unfortunately, the silent filtering is a serious problem. In our case, we forwarded our main company emails to the the iCloud.com accounts which were loaded onto the executives' iPads and iPhones. Things worked alright at first, but later we noticed that we weren't receiving important emails. The emails that went missing weren't from spammy domains either. They were university emails, government emails, and emails from major US corporations. One of those government agencies eventually contacted one of our executives via a different method, and that is how we found out that the emails being forwarded to the iCloud.com accounts were being silently filtered.

     

    In our case, for security reasons, we don't load company emails directly onto mobile devices, so we were forwarding company emails to the iCloud.com domain, but when important messages started going missing this became a huge inconvenience and potential security risk (as employees were tempted to load their work emails directly onto the devices - a no no here). We also tried everything to get a resolution from Apple, but thus far nothing has been done. We have not been able to ascertain if this is an issue that Apple intends to fix or if they even consider this a problem.

     

    Unfortunately, this makes using iCloud.com accounts for business related emails (or any important emails, really) a very bad idea. I wish I could offer a solution, but the reality is that those who rely on iCloud.com for company mail will probably end up looking flakey or irresponsible at some point. Those who are sending you the messages will be unfamiliar with silent filtering as most email providers simply don't bounce emails without providing a return message with a reason for why. In Apple's case they filter emails that contain blacklisted phrases as well as emails that come from blacklisted domains. So, it is possible to receive some emails and not others from the same sender. This will again reflect badly on the business relying on iCloud, not on Apple itself, as most will expect to receive some sort of notification that the email has bounced.

     

    The best solution is to go with something like Blackberry, or one of the other business oriented phones... For those who care about security, the blackphone is also a pretty nice option, and there are so many Android phones to choose from that clients can surely find options there.

     

    It's no secret that Apple has one of the best UIs out there, and we really loved how our iPads and iPhones seamlessly integrated with our other mac products, until of course - they didn't... :-/

  • by sdtom303,

    sdtom303 sdtom303 Dec 16, 2014 5:51 PM in response to Star Traveler
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 16, 2014 5:51 PM in response to Star Traveler

    My clients have contacted Apple support about having their IP blocked by Proofpoint, even though their IP was last seen as a problem in 2011, according to Proofpoint, and their IP is on no other blacklists.  They have also contacted Proofpoint several times with no response.  So what is our recourse?  Apple support offloads it to Proofpoint, and Proofpoint ignores us.  It is a problem with no solution, other than broadcasting far and wide that this is what you get with Apple.

  • by HarryWales,

    HarryWales HarryWales Jun 13, 2016 3:29 AM in response to apollothethird
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iCloud
    Jun 13, 2016 3:29 AM in response to apollothethird

    After having no success in getting Proofpoint to de-list our server as it is not blocked anywhere else - we have had to take the step to advise all clients who use @me.com email address to switch over to a free Google GMail account - which solves the issues right away.

  • by BBoiss,

    BBoiss BBoiss Jun 13, 2016 1:51 PM in response to apollothethird
    Level 4 (1,404 points)
    Apple Music
    Jun 13, 2016 1:51 PM in response to apollothethird

    Postmaster information for iCloud Mail - Apple Support

     

    I didn't see that this had been posted here yet, but it may prove useful to look this over for you guys.

    Apple offers a public article to address exactly this question for you, and there is even an email address you can submit such inquiries to so you may be removed from such lists.

    Contact us

    If you followed our best practices and reviewed your mail logs for more information but still can't diagnose and address delivery issues, you may contact our postmaster team by sending an email to icloudadmin@apple.comwith the following information:

    • Your company name
    • Your email domain
    • The IP addresses of the affected mail servers
    • The SMTP errors that you're getting from iCloud mail servers
    • A detailed description of the issue, including when it started

    We'll need all of the above information to help.

  • by cjfisher,

    cjfisher cjfisher Sep 13, 2016 6:42 AM in response to amswebhost
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 13, 2016 6:42 AM in response to amswebhost

    Being an Apple <insert_range_of_device> customer and also a Proofpoint employee, maybe I can help out.

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