How to resolve a Certified IP security or policy suspension

Validity notifies you through email if one of your Certified IP addresses is suspended for a security or policy violation. 

The process for resolving a Certified IP security or policy suspension varies based on the type of suspension. However, clearing up most suspensions requires providing information to the Certification compliance team or requesting removal from a blocklist, or both. 

Here are the steps to resolving a security or policy suspension: 

1. Review the notification you received from the Certification compliance team. 
   • The notification contains additional details and information about the violation.
   • Notification definitions are listed at the bottom of this article for you convenience 
2. Use the information from the Certification compliance team to investigation and fix the root cause of the suspension.
   • Depending on the security suspension type, you may have to:
     • Delist the IP address or domain from a blocklist
     • Remove a malicious URL from your content
     • Ensure suspected spam trap email addresses are added to a suppression list or removed from your list file
   • If your IP address has been compromised, the Certification compliance team will request additional information. They may also identify other requirements you must meet in order to lift the suspension. 

3. Implement all Validity's recommendations and address its requirements. 
   • Once monitoring confirms there are no further security issues, the suspension is lifted and the IP address regains full Certification benefits once compliance thresholds are met. 

Even though a security suspension has been lifted, the IP address may remain suspended due to non-compliance with Certification performance thresholds. The time it takes for performance metrics to normalize varies depending on the scale of the compromise.

Severe security compromises may take 30 days or more for performance metrics to return to compliance with Certification thresholds. Only when Certification thresholds are met will Certification benefits be restored.