requesting help re: HTTP 403 (forbidden) error

I just hit a HTTP 403: Forbidden error when trying to visit site over VPN. Changing my IP address got around it, meaning I am still on the same VPN but arriving from a different server.

This would appear to be from the server side given the error. If it were blocked from the client side, I would expect a 404 (not found) - the 403: Forbidden error means I am logged in but trying to do something that my current permissions don't allow for.

My first thought was that perhaps the hosting company blocks known VPN IP addresses as a security measure to head off DDOS attacks. Problem with this is it creates a catch-22 for people who are blocked by their ISP... as found in this thread: https://www.suicideforum.com/community/threads/cant-use-the-site.179592/

I'm wondering if this is a thing where possibly there was a corrupted cookie or cache file on my side.
aside: This is a brand new laptop and I have had some bad luck with other sites. Even windows update, lol. Had to do a factory reset to use my MS account. Based on that, I cannot rule out it being on my side, but the nature of the error I got points to the server, specifically the permissions on my acct. Tagging @Freya for admin visibility; however this might be more of a xenforo question.. Not sure how SF sources its hosting.

@LumberJack thanks for the tag. We don't ban VPNs (which you know at this point as you're accessing from one) but you're right that a 403 Forbidden is a server side error code. Normally when I run into people facing 403 errors it's because they've put the wrong admin password into their own website and the security protocols have locked them out. It most often occurs when a specific IP has broken whatever safety rules the firewalls are configured for.

In this case, I suspect the IP has probably ended up on one of the bad actor blacklists and that our server security has blocked it. Ideally I'd like people to be able to access the website from any IP but if an IP has been hijacked for nefarious purposes then I'd rather the security we have in place blocks it than put the site at any kind of risk.

The fortunate thing is that anyone savvy enough to access via VPN is savvy enough to try another IP address like you did.

I hope you don't face any further problems and I'm glad you circumvented the issue

Many thanks. I thought it was that, because I have been entirely blocked from a site or two because the whole ip range was blocked. 🤷