This seems to be due to a failure to renew the domain name, spamcop.net, and while it has since been rectified, may lead to some important emails being unknowingly stuck in the spam folder. This outage only lasted the weekend, and could have been a lot worse, but still shows that even the slightest administrative error can have massive ramifications among a product’s users. The website is used as a crucial link in the spam check process. The spam filter checks the email senders’ IP addresses through this website, receiving clearance or denial based on the website’s checks. It’s not hard to see, then, how this website being completely dark would lead to every email being marked as spam, as the checks couldn’t be made. This is not to say there weren’t some serious repercussions on an individual level. Spamcop is still responsible for any time sensitive emails that were unable to reach their recipient. Spamcop hasn’t yet made a statement about their outage, which may leave some less tech-savvy people feeling as though their emails are prone to getting lost, and unsure about whether to switch providers. The filter is back up and working, so the damage has been minimal, but at the same time, acts as a reminder of how a lot of cyber functionality that we take for granted is based on teetering elements outside of out control. If your company was hit by the sudden email outage, you’d quickly be able to recover by sending out apology emails (even though it wasn’t your fault) and staying on top of your email absence.
