Sky DNS not resolving correctly (both Broadband and Mobile)

[Kurt+Farrar]

Our domain is failing to resolve correctly on Sky's DNS servers, but is resolving correctly on all other ISPs and public DNS including Google (8.8.8.8) and CloudFlare (1.1.1.1).

May 2022 we moved our name servers to CloudFlare and use CloudFlare to proxy our traffic. Sky's DNS servers don't seem to be reflecting this... we get multiple messages per day (moreso in the last few weeks, so I don't know if it was working after the move and then stopped) from customers saying they can't access our website as a result.

If they're on a smartphone (as most of our visitors are) with a non-Sky mobile network, turn off WiFi on their device and use mobile data it works, but some are using their computer or an iPad, or they're on Sky Mobile too, so that workaround isn't an option.

I can't see what Sky are returning (as I'm not on Sky) but I know Virgin Media are returning 81.99.162.48 as the IP address, which is invalid, so I'm assuming Sky is the same. 

The actual result (seemingly everywhere else other than Virgin Media and Sky Broadband - I'm sure there must be a connection between both companies) is (seen on 1.1.1.1 and 8.8.8.8): 

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: www.yourbabyscan.com
Address: 104.21.47.107
Name: www.yourbabyscan.com
Address: 172.67.146.193

Another valid response (seen on TalkTalk and BT) is: 

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: www.yourbabyscan.com
Address: 62.24.138.17
Name: www.yourbabyscan.com
Address: 62.24.151.225

Can anyone offer any insight or help on how I can get Sky's DNS Cache updated to the correct results as it's harming our business, and annoying Sky users (ie. your customers). 

[adwarduk]

@KevNewMedia - is this something there's an official channel it could be reported through? 

[Chrisee]

@Kurt+Farrar all of the links in your post are working this morning over my Sky connection using the default Sky DNS.

Where a site changes providers it does take a while for the system to update down the heirarchy so for a small site that could possibly be a week or so. Sky are one of the largest ISPs with over 6 million customers Virgin Media are much the same so if there is an issue after 12 months with those two it is your hosting company that needs to sort it. 

[Kurt+Farrar]

The host in this case is CloudFlare which hosts and protects 15.7 million websites if we want to play a game of who has the most customers (and somehow conclude who is at fault based on that), their DNS service (1.1.1.1) naturally returns the correct result.

Google DNS (8.8.8.8) which serves over 1 trillion DNS requests per day, also returns the same correct result as CloudFlare DNS. BT Broadband (30 million customers) returns the right result too. As does TalkTalk (4 million customers). 

Thanks to the more positive and constructive response from the Virgin Media community on their forums, I've managed to narrow this down to likely being Sky's security protection software. For Virgin Media, it's based on Virus Total, and likely to be the same for Sky Broadband given the symptoms are the same. As CloudFlare (correctly) blocks bots from attacking my back-end servers, a small number of the providers (including ESET) that supply data to Virus Total are blocked when they try to scan my website. This results in a 403 Forbidden response when their bots try to scan my website, and those providers assume the worst, wrongly jumping to the conclusion that the website contains malware, categorising the site as malicious as a result, which is then used to determine whether the correct DNS result should be returned to the Sky Broadband user, or whether the DNS result for the Virus Total blocked page should be returned.

If you aren't getting blocked from my website, it's likely you've turned off Sky's content filtering/safety features.

When it's blocked on Virgin Media, DNS responds with the IP for a Virus Total page, but it's a http:// page, and if the website is a https:// (which ours is) then it results in a 'Secure Connection cannot be established' message that Virgin Media, Sky Broadband and Sky Mobile customers are reporting to us when trying to access our website. 

If you do have Sky's security options turned on, it's also possible that between me asking the question, receiving some useful help from the Virgin Media Community, and reaching out to the vendors wrongly reporting the classification, that it was updated by the vendors and you're accessing post-fix... as this is now fixed on Virgin Media's DNS and reporting the correct result now. 

[Chrisee]

@Kurt+Farrar I can't really make this any clearer but using a Sky connection through Sky's own DNS with Sky's Broadband Shield set to its most restrictive level of PG your site loads. No idea what issue your customers are having but its does not appear to be an issue with Sky's DNS. Sorry as I cannot replicate your problem and as no one else has posted its likely they can't either. 

Sky had a deal with Mcafee that ended 3 years back so it maybe an oddity there but currently they do not offer a virus protection suite.

[Kurt+Farrar]

Does Sky Broadband Shield not still exist then?
Safety and security on your Sky products | Sky Help | Sky.com

This is the equivalent service of Virgin Media Web Safe. And every ISP I use (with the exception of Starlink, which is pretty much a free for all) has an equivalent.

[Kurt+Farrar]

This also describes the exact same symptom: 
The blocked page isn't showing | Sky Help | Sky.com

When a website is using https then the blocked page can't be displayed, exactly the same as on Virgin Media. 

[gloopjtp]

Also getting this same issue accessing loads of websites on devices that only struggle when connected to my Sky network but are fine on data or other WiFi networks. 

[Chrisee]

@gloopjtp if you are getting DNS issues you can mznually add a public DNS to your devices network set up Google's on 8.8.8.8 works. Alternatively if you power down your hub for an hour should  reset the connection clearing the DNS fault.

[M+Flower]

also getting 403 errors with some URLs which worked a couple of days ago. I powered down my router last night for 7 hrs and this morning I still have the same issue.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.