How to Block or Unblock a specific IP Address from cPanel?

You can control who can access your website to prevent unwanted traffic or to stop a suspicious visitor. In such cases, blocking the IP address becomes very useful.

You can easily manage this through cPanel if your hosting provider provides it. Similarly, you can also unblock it easily when the situation changes.

Let’s learn how you can block or unblock a specific IP address using cPanel.

How to Block a Specific IP Address in cPanel

Follow the below easy steps in cPanel to block a particular IP address from visiting your website –

First, you need to log in to your cPanel account.
You will then reach the cPanel dashboard. Now you should look for the section named “Security”. Under this section, you will find a tool called “IP Blocker”. Click on it.
Inside the IP Blocker tool, you will see a textbox labelled “IP Address or Domain”. Type the IP address you want to block here.

Make sure you enter the correct IP address, or you might prevent genuine users from accessing your website. If you want, you can even block a range of IP addresses by typing the range correctly.

Then, click on the “Add” button.

cPanel will process your request and you will see a success message confirming that the IP address has been blocked.

From now onwards, the blocked IP address will not be able to open your website. They will get an error message or will simply fail to connect.

Test your website from a different network to make sure everything is working fine for normal users after you block an IP.

How to Unblock a Specific IP Address in cPanel

Unblocking an IP address is also simple. Follow the steps below –

First, log in to your cPanel account just like you did before. After logging in, again go to the “Security” section and click on “IP Blocker”.
This time, when the IP Blocker tool opens, you will see a list under “Currently-Blocked IP Addresses” that shows all the IP addresses and ranges you have blocked earlier.
Find the IP address that you want to unblock. Besides the blocked IP, you will notice a small delete icon, usually looking like a trash bin. Click on it.
Next, cPanel will ask you for confirmation before removing the block. Click on the “Remove IP” button.
Then, cPanel will process your request and show you a success message. The unblocked IP address will now be able to visit and browse your website normally.

After unblocking, you can ask the concerned person or yourself to test the site to ensure the access is restored properly.

Remember, blocking an IP address will not protect you from all kinds of attacks. For full security, you should also use firewalls, security plugins, and proper website monitoring.

Similarly, IP blocking alone will not help much if someone is attacking you through dynamic IP addresses (which keep changing). In such cases, you can contact your hosting provider to discuss advanced security options.