Restricting access to messaging channels by IP address

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<div class="note note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> The feature described in this article is similar to <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408824467098" target="_blank">banning visitors by IP address in live chat</a>.</div>
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<p class="p">Admins can block all end users from a specified IP address from conducting messaging
conversations with your AI or human agents. Messaging channel bans can be applied to IP
addresses in Admin Center, or from messaging conversations in Agent Workspace.</p>
<p class="p">This article includes the following topics:</p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="messaging_ban_IP-restricting__ul_lwk_zlh_dgc">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_q2k_1mh_dgc">Understanding what happens when an IP address is banned from messaging channels</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_hw4_1mh_dgc">Banning IP addresses in Admin Center</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_wft_1mh_dgc">Banning IP addresses in a messaging conversation in Agent Workspace</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<p class="p">Related articles:</p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="messaging_ban_IP-restricting__ul_i2s_thh_dgc">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9418700382618" target="_blank">About banning IP addresses from messaging
channels</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9535836802074" target="_blank">Managing IP addresses banned from messaging
channels</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9435777614874" target="_blank">Accessing and using the Banned IP addresses
page in Admin Center</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_q2k_1mh_dgc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Understanding what happens when an IP address is banned from messaging channels</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Banning an IP address from accessing your messaging channels:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_q2k_1mh_dgc__ul_sfj_dmh_dgc">
<li class="li">Prevents any users with the banned IP address from connecting with
your Web Widget, iOS SDK, and Android SDK channels. </li>
<li class="li">Adds it to the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9435777614874-Viewing-and-managing-IP-addresses-banned-from-messaging-channels" target="_blank">Banned IP addresses page</a>. </li>
<li class="li">Adds the action to the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408828001434" target="_blank">audit log</a>. </li>
</ul>
<p class="p">Banning an IP address does not notify the end user that their IP address has been
banned. End users, however, do experience a change in behavior in the Web Widget or
Mobile SDK channels. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9418700382618-About-banning-IP-addresses-from-messaging-channels#topic_ztg_z2h_dgc" target="_blank">About banning IP addresses from messaging
channels</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_hw4_1mh_dgc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Banning IP addresses in Admin Center</h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="p">
<div class="div">
<p class="p">Admins and agents with the right permissions can ban IP addresses
from the Banned IP addresses page. </p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To ban an IP address from the Banned IP addresses page</strong></p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_hw4_1mh_dgc__ol_gnj_gmh_dgc">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4581766374554#topic_hfg_dyz_1hb" target="_blank">Admin Center</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_hw4_1mh_dgc__d8e824" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ac_people_icon.png">
<strong class="ph b">People</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Restrictions &gt; Banned IP
addresses</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Ban IP address</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">On the <strong class="ph b">Add a banned IP page</strong>, add the following
information:<ul class="ul" id="topic_hw4_1mh_dgc__ul_hnj_gmh_dgc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">IP address (required)</strong>: Enter the IP address or
range you want to ban. Use valid IPv4 formatting for individual
IP addresses. See <a class="xref" href="#topic_igr_bmh_dgc">Specifying a range of IP addresses</a> for adding a
multiple addresses.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Reason (required)</strong>: Use the drop-down to select
a reason for banning the address. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Additional comments</strong>: Enter a comment (up to 500
characters) with relevant information about the IP address or
the ban. </li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="li"> Click <strong class="ph b">Ban</strong>. The IP address is added to the banned IP list.</li>
</ol>
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</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested2" id="topic_igr_bmh_dgc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title4">Specifying a range of IP addresses</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You can specify ranges of IP addresses. Use valid IPv4 addresses, along with the
methods below, to specify a range:</p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_igr_bmh_dgc__ul_awp_1nh_dgc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Use asterisk (*) wildcards</strong>. An IP address consists
of four numbers separated by periods, such as 192.168.0.1. You can
substitute a single asterisk character (*) for any number group to
let Zendesk know that it should accept any value in that space. For
example, 192.*.*.* allows any IP address whose first number is
192.
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Use IP subnet mask syntax</strong>. For example,
192.168.1.0/25 specifies all the IP addresses between 192.168.1.0
and 192.168.1.127.
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested1" id="topic_wft_1mh_dgc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title5">Banning IP addresses in a messaging conversation in Agent Workspace</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">If device metadata is displayed in Agent Workspace, you can ban IP addresses from the
ticket interface. The option to ban an IP address appears in the Device information
section of the Customer context panel.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_wft_1mh_dgc__image_htd_14h_dgc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ip_ban_messaging-ban_button.png" width="300"></p>
<div class="p">
<div class="note note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/7041910642074" target="_blank">End-user device information</a> must be
displayed in the Customer context panel to view and ban IP addresses in Agent
Workspace. If device information isn’t displayed, IP addresses can only be
banned from the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9435777614874-Viewing-and-managing-IP-addresses-banned-from-messaging-channels" target="_blank">Banned IP addresses page</a> in Admin
Center.</div>
</div>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To ban an IP address in Agent Workspace</strong></p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_wft_1mh_dgc__ol_hkp_m4h_dgc">
<li class="li">In Agent Workspace, click the <strong class="ph b">User</strong> icon (<img class="image" id="topic_wft_1mh_dgc__image_q2m_r4h_dgc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/icon_omnipanel_user.png"> ) on the side of the ticket. This opens
customer context in the context panel.</li>
<li class="li">Expand the <strong class="ph b">Device information</strong> section.</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Ban IP</strong>.</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
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