No, this isn't going to be a bug. In most situations this is going to be due to a cheap shared web hosting company providing you with a shared IP address that has been blacklisted by one of numerous internet security firms.
Because the IP address has been blacklisted, your site is then unable to communicate with our servers because our web host, FireHost, is one of the most secure int he business and if your IP address is blacklisted it blocks the request at the firewall.
I will use @socialhandlers as the example as his/her URL was provided in the post above and from that I was able to get it's IP address and then quickly determine that it's IP address has been blacklisted by not one but multiple internet security companies.
This is the web site: http://goodsamaritanministries.org/
This is the IP address of the web site: 66.147.240.161
Here is a screenshot showing this IP address has been blacklisted by multiple internet security companies: http://i.imgur.com/UccPswc.png
So you can see that the IP address associated with @socialhandlers web site has been blacklisted as being a maliciously used IP address by PhiskTank and AlienVault, two of the major internet security providers used by Firewalls to block malicious activity.
So @socialhandlers web site is unable to communicate with our server API because our firewall is blocking it because it's using an IP address that has been blacklisted for malicious activity.
This means @socialhandlers web host, HostMonster, has provided them with an IP address that has been tainted. Think of it as being assigned a stolen social security number. Once an IP address has been blacklisted by a major internet security provider requests from that IP address will be blocked by firewall systems that use those security providers to provide a blacklist of known malicious IP addresses.
Now this does not mean that @socialhandlers has done anything wrong. It means someone else on HostMonster that was also given that IP address has used it for malicious purposes and that is what has gotten it blacklisted by multiple internet security firms. Once this happens ALL customers who share this IP address are impacted.
The only person who can fix this issue is HostMonster. You need to contact them, show them that your IP address has been blacklisted by multiple internet security firms and this is causing you issues communicating with 3rd party service and then they need to take the necessary steps to have the IP address removed from these blacklists. HostMonster owns the IP address so only HostMonster can do what needs to be done to "clean" and have that IP address removed from these blacklists.
If HostMonster refuses to help and says it's not their issue? Then I would suggest you find a new web host. They should NOT be providing their customers with blacklisted IP addresses and they certainly shouldn't be ignoring this type of situation when it arises.
Having your IP address being blacklisted by these internet security firms has far reaching consequences beyond being able to access our update service. It also means email sent from that IP address is going to be unreliable because many email services also rely on these internet security firms to check for blacklisted and tainted IP addresses and block emails sent from them.
It's how the internet security world works.
Here is one way you can find out if the IP address associated with your web site is blacklisted.
First you need to get the IP address of your web site. There are a variety of ways to do this. Sometimes you can find this information in your hosting Dashboard. There are also web sites that can help you determine the IP address. Here is one such web site:
http://whois.net/domain-name-ip-address/
Please note, when using that site you'll see multiple IP addresses returned. It is the IP address that will appear under the domain name in question that is your IP address. Here is a screenshot showing an example: http://note.io/19lsQi9
Next, to determine if the IP address of your web site has been black listed you can use the ThreatStop service to check the IP address. Here is the ThreatStop web site address you can use:
http://www.threatstop.com/checkip
When you first go to the ThreatStep URL there will already be an IP address populated. This will be the IP address you are browsing from. So the first thing you need to do is change this and use the IP address of the web site you'd like to check. For example the IP address i'm using is 66.147.240.161. So here is a screenshot of what I would enter: http://note.io/19ltiNf
Please note don't include any additional trailing spaces at the beginning or end of the IP address you enter. Otherwise it will act as if it is a bad IP address.
Once you submit that form you will then get the results. The results will tell you if the IP address is banned or not, which service has banned it, when it was banned and when it's most recent activity was. See this screenshot: http://note.io/1axAqaN
Once an IP address has been banned only your web host can take the steps necessary to get the IP address de-blacklisted. As I mentioned above, if your web host is unwilling to assist you with this issue that should be a major red flag that they either don't know what they are doing or simply don't give a care that they are providing customers with tainted IP addresses which in effect is a tainted identity.
Your IP address is like your web site's social security number. When you apply for a social security number with the United States Social Security Administration they aren't going to give you a social security number that already exists. By giving a customer a blacklisted IP address that web host is in effect giving you a stolen identity and not only that but a stolen identity that is known to be stolen and is therefore blacklisted.
For those that are experiencing similar issues as those mentioned in this thread... try the steps above for yourself. For some reason we are seeing this more and more. It appears hosts like BlueHost, HostGator, HostMonster, and even GoDaddy are simply recycling IP addresses even when they are blacklisted which is a HORRIBLE thing to do as a web host. If my web host was doing this I would switch in a heartbeat.
