What is IP Restriction?
Companies restrict IP addresses as a part of a security protocol to protect networks from unauthorised access. An IP address is a unique numerical identifier assigned to every device on a network, allowing it to communicate and share data.
IP restrictions are important to prevent unauthorised users from accessing and mishandling your data. This method improves control, especially for companies that deal with a lot of sensitive data.
In this blog, we will learn about IP restriction, its benefits and limitations, and how firewalls and routers help protect your server.
What is IP Restriction?
IP restriction is a security measure taken by a company or website to prevent access to information and data from a specific IP address range. It is a security measure to control who can access your online resources.
Every device connected to the internet has a unique numerical value. This value is known as their IP address.
In the case of IP address restrictions, certain IP addresses are blocked from accessing your website. These restrictions are implemented through firewalls, routers, or access control software that verify each IP request before providing them access.
Benefits of IP Restrictions
- Enhanced Security: By limiting access to trusted IP addresses and reducing unauthorised access, IP restrictions enhance your website’s security.
- Flexible Control: Allow only IP addresses from your approved list to access your network and data. This way, you select who you want to grant access to and reduce the possibility of data breaches.
- Block Malicious IPs: One key benefit of IP restriction is that it automatically tracks websites that exhibit suspicious activity and also reduces the potential of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
- Prevents Brute Force Attacks: Brute force attacks are conducted by hackers to get access to your passwords. Blocking login attempts from suspicious IPs can prevent such attacks.
Limitations of IP Restrictions
- Too Many Restrictions: While preventing cyber attacks is a good thing, implementing too many IP restrictions can drive away genuine users, thereby impacting your business.
- Constant Updates: The more blocks you implement, the more updates you’ll need to keep track of since IPs aren’t static and subject to change in a dynamic network.
- Looming Threat: Skilled hackers can still manage to spoof your IP restrictions by hiding their real IP addresses and misuse your data.
How to Add IP Address Restrictions?
You can add IP restrictions in several ways, some of which have been mentioned below:
- Configuring Your Router: Routers manage data flow across various networks and decide which IP addresses are allowed through specific network segments.
Configuring your router will give you the ability to specify which IPs are allowed to access your network. To do this you will need to log in to the router’s management interface and add the IP addresses you want to provide access.
- Web Application Firewall: Firewalls are comparatively more selective, blocking only IP addresses that appear suspicious, according to the listed conditions.
Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) are software or hardware-based firewalls that filter, monitor and block incoming traffic to a website or application. They offer protection against common web-based attacks such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XXS) and restrict API gateways to IPs you’ve decided to blacklist.
- Creating an .htaccess file: You can specify which IP addresses you want to grant access to by using the .htacess files. These files will contain the list of IPs that have access to your website.
Conclusion
As cyber threats continue to evolve, IP address restrictions through advanced firewalls and routers are effective ways to secure your network and help reduce threats to your organisation. By listing out your IP restrictions, firewalls and routers prevent the entry of any unauthorised traffic. This allows administrators to enable proper access while maintaining a secure user environment.
To further enhance this protection, we at Instasafe offer security solutions that focus on securing your digital infrastructure by integrating seamlessly with your current technology stack.
The InstaSafe Secure Access, our cloud-based security solution in particular, offers Geo-Binding capabilities, allowing you to restrict access to certain regions or countries to offer secure remote access.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- How do I remove IP restrictions?
To remove IP restrictions, go to your firewalls or router settings and find the list of restricted IP addresses. From the list, delete that specific IP or IP range.
- How do I fix IP restrictions?
To fix IP restrictions, you can turn off your router or modem for a short time. If it still does not get resolved, contact your ISP provider and request a new IP. Depending on the platform, you can also edit your IP by going to User settings.
- How do I restrict the API gateway to IP?
To restrict API getaway to IP, configure the API gateway’s security settings to allow only trusted IPs to access your data. You can do this by adding your list of approved IPs in the API settings. You can also configure the IP allowlist in your firewall for API traffic.
- Why is my IP banned?
IP bans can result from many things. Your IP address could be banned due to suspicious activity, multiple logins or security policies. To resolve this issue, you can contact your Internet Service Provider to request a review and a fast removal of the ban.