iCloud server blocking Earthlink forwarded emails

Question

iCloud server blocking Earthlink forwarded emails

Looks like a problem that has happened before with respect to blocking of Roadrunner emails sent to people with me.com email address has resurfaced, this time with Earthlink. I have an old Earthlink account (at least 20 years old, which I keep only because of the number of online accounts linked to this email - almost 1000), and I have email forwarding set up on it to forward all emails to my me.com account, where I can review it at home or on one of my mobile devices. It has been working well for about 8 years.

Today, however, messages sent to my earthlink.net address are being bounced back to the sender due to this error:

host mx4.me.com.akadns.net [17.172.34.66]: 550 5.7.0 Blocked - see https://support.proofpoint.com/dnsbl-lookup.cgi?ip=207.69.195.100

It seems that the spam filtering service, proofpoint (who was at the root of the problem with roadrunner blocked emails before), has blacklisted several of Earthlink's IP addresses, probably because they were the source of some email spam. However, there are many legitimate emails also being relayed via these IP addresses, which are being blocked. I called Earthlink, and basically wasted 90 minutes talking to a level 1 tech ("try restarting your computer") and his supervisor ("it's Apple's fault, not ours"). I spoke with Apple, who was more receptive, but unable to help (escalated to iCloud engineers). I personally entered the IP information on ProofPoint's website via their online form for such inconveniences. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens. Any suggestions/feedback would be appreciated.

As an aside, I wish I could just jettison Earthlink after all these years - it's an archaic system, with horrendous email. But, I just don't have the time to go to literally hunderds of websites to update my email address. Anyone have any solutions that have worked for them?

Thanks!

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on May 10, 2013 9:16 PM

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Answer 1

Chen SF

Level 1

0 points

May 10, 2013 11:59 PM in response to Stuart Pollack

What earthlink chat technical assistance had to say about this issue

'Mark S' says: Thank you for contacting EarthLink LiveChat, how may I help you today?

Mark S: https://support.proofpoint.com/dnsbl-lookup.cgi?ip=207.69.195.97

Mark S: Please click on the above weblink.

Mark S: Follow the instructions from it to unblock Earthlink IP

Mark S: Proof Point is blocking Earthlink IP address.

Mark S: That is the reason, it is unable forward the emails to iCloud/

Mark S: The issue is not from Earthlink's end.

Mark S: It is from Proof Point end.

Mark S: You need to contact them to unblock Earthlink's IP address from their support

Mark S: Customer need to contact them and unblock it.

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Answer 2

May 11, 2013 9:17 AM in response to Stuart Pollack

Same problem here.

I switched the forward to a gmail account as a temp fix.

I'll try to get proof point to open the IP when I have some time to burn.

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Answer 3

May 11, 2013 4:44 PM in response to Stuart Pollack

To ditch Earthlink, just set up forwarding from your Earthlink account to your iCloud account. Done.

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Answer 4

May 11, 2013 8:15 PM in response to Impaler80s

Right. Done that for years. But now the EarthLink mail servers IP addresses are being blacklisted and apple is accepting the blacklist. So we are screwed doing the forward from EarthLink.

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Answer 5

Elliso

Level 1

4 points

May 12, 2013 11:39 AM in response to dmcnamara

I'm having the exact same issue with the Earthlink error (same message etc). I've been using this forwarding for many years and it stopped working yesterday.

Does anyone have a fix other than the step of going via gmail?

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Answer 6

clayb2

Level 1

0 points

May 12, 2013 1:15 PM in response to Elliso

I, too, am having the same issue forwarding e-mails from my earthlink to my icloud account. Earthlink was hyper unhelpful and the Apple tech claimed no knowledge of a relationship between Apple and Proofpoint. HELP!

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Answer 7

May 12, 2013 5:40 PM in response to clayb2

Don't know what to tell you all - but it's kind of ironic because years ago Apple decided to partner with Earthlink for home Internet service; now it's all blocked.

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Answer 8

Elliso

Level 1

4 points

May 12, 2013 7:05 PM in response to Impaler80s

I can get emails from earthlink via Mail program by adding that account- just cannot get forwarded emails

from earthlink thru icloud...

I got that same error as clayb2 and Proofpoint

-so no synch on devices etc.(the whole point of icloud)

Hopefully this will be fixed so I guess it's good to keep posting ...

for now I've added a vacation message which re-directs my mail to icloud -

Apple please FIX this!!

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Answer 9

May 13, 2013 1:38 AM in response to Stuart Pollack

Add me to the list. Cloud bouncing my forwarded earthlink mails since last week. Earthlink advises that they are working on the problem this morning.

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Answer 10

May 13, 2013 2:55 AM in response to Stuart Pollack

Still no resolution on this issue after 48 hours. Emails forwarded from Earthlink to iCloud are still bouncing. I submitted the culprit IP addresses to Proofpoint (for me it was addresses in the range 207.69.195.98 - 207.69.195.101 - there may be many more, of course). If you haven't submitted this info to Proofpoint yet, it's probably a good idea to do so at:

https://support.proofpoint.com/dnsbl-lookup.cgi

Enter the IP address that is being blocked (based on the email bounce message your sending parties receive), and then add your name and destination email address. Hopefully, Proofpoint will open up the corresponding IP range.

For now, I just added my Earthlink account onto my Mail.app accounts and onto to my iPhone (POP). I wish Earthlink had IMAP capability. What an archaic system!

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Answer 11

May 13, 2013 5:08 AM in response to Stuart Pollack

Add me as well.

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Answer 12

May 13, 2013 6:15 AM in response to Earl Sauls

Add me as well - emails have bounced back since 5/10/13. I've submitted the bounced IP addresses to Proofpoint (thanks for that tip), but does anyone know how long will it take for Proofpoint to clear these IP addresses? Work is coming to a screeching halt...!

(ps thanks Chen SF & Stuart for sitting on the help line - I almost went that route but it sounds like that's just a waste of my time!)

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Answer 13

May 13, 2013 7:25 AM in response to Stuart Pollack

How do you turn off this @me.com account until this is fixed?

I have turned off the cloud on my ipad and iphone but the messages are still getting blocked.

I send a test message to my earthlink account with a sender from my gmail but the error message says blocked at my me.com account. I didn't send it to my me.com account!!!!

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Answer 14

May 13, 2013 9:56 AM in response to granolagina

I fixed it by forwarding all my earthlink emails to my gmail account.

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Answer 15

clayb2

Level 1

0 points

May 13, 2013 10:15 AM in response to Stuart Pollack

I don't think Proofpoint will let a mere mortal unblock an address. You need to get Apple to contact Proofpoint. So the only way out of this wretched situation is to contact iCloud support and tell them your forwarding is being blocked. Be patient it seems some of the technicians know about this issue and some don't. Try to have a copy of a bounced message available to send along. I really think Apple should fire Proofpoint. I would rather get some spam and actually recieve my e-mail than get no spam and have everybody who tries to e-mail me think I don't exist.

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