My VPN is blocked by FS. Anyone else having that problem?

Laurie Baughman Bulson

My VPN is blocked by FS. Anyone else having that problem?

Áine Ní Donnghaile

Have you tried using a different virtual location? FamilySearch is not available in some geographical locations.

Ian.Perry

Yes Laurie, my access to FS through my VPN is also blocked. Very annoying because it means that I can't use Ancestry with FS at the same time - which I often do. I might try and leave some feedback on FS somewhere.

Craig Nackerud

I asked this question of support.

"Not sure how using a VPN interferes with your ability to determine if 'real' people are using your site. I use a VPN for multiple reasons and a website that asks me to disable my VPN immediately sets off red flags. Please tell me why disabling is necessary to discern if I am real or not? Anyone not using a VPN is either foolish, cheap, ignorant or looking for real trouble. I do not have any other sites I use asking me to disable my VPN in order to verify me as real. Maybe your intentions are more malicious than most would suspect, maybe you are just way behind the curve. Let me know."

And here is their reply. I will likely submit one of their suggestion forms indicating that VPN disabling is problematic.

"Thank you for contacting FamilySearch Support about requiring some VPN’s to be turned off when using FamilySearch.

FamilySearch has selected to use a very sound security system due to the high incidence of hack attempts against the international FamilySearch.org website which has hundreds of thousands of guests signing in every day. FamilySearch is a very secure website and it is very unlikely to have any spam or hack attempts reach you when using FamilySearch/Family Tree."

MandyShaw1

Maybe they are nervous of geographical location being obscured? That's all I can think of, but it's hardly new as a feature of VPN offerings.

David Alan Webber

Are there some VPNs that are ok, and some that are not? And would they get in trouble if the staff themselves put out such a list?

Ian.Perry

It's nuts. I just had to sign out of my VPN so that I could write this comment. This is the only website that I have come across that blocks VPNs. Craig's quote from FS above viz. "due to the high incidence of hack attempts against the international FamilySearch.org website" shows that FS is a big target for malicious actors but then they go on to say "it is very unlikely to have any spam or hack attempts reach you". Um, I would have thought that such a high incidence of bad acting would increase the level of attacks I could possibly get. Or am I missing something? I use DuckDuckGo now as my browser and it shows on its home page just how many attacks I get when I visit different sites. I'll try and attach a screenshot here so you can judge for yourself how "unlikely" you are to get a spam/hack attempt by using FS with the protection of a VPN. The top report is when I logged in to this message board just now, and the one below is when I logged in to the main site yesterday. Does FS read these comments? They should be encouraged to do so if someone knows how to reach them.

sc woz

Yes FamilySearch does block some VPN's and the countries they use to access the web. Not all of them are blocked but certain countries and certain VPN's due to Cybersecurity and Privacy concerns they my be blocked. See knowledge article.

Error 15 Overview

Error 15 is the result of a new cyber security system integrated into FamilySearch. It has been added to our site to protect data in Family Tree, historical records, and memories from online attackers. It is very important to us to protect our users and the family history data on our site. We also need to honor the contractual agreements we make with our collaborating third-party genealogy companies. This new security system provides important protection that achieves these goals.

While it has been successful in shielding the site from attacks, the security system may block honest users from interacting with our site. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you.

Solutions

Here are the top 3 solutions that we find work for most of our users who experience Error 15:

• Turn off or adjust the settings of any add-ons or extensions that you have installed in your browser (this is the most common issue). We can't provide a list of problematic add-ons, since there are many. TO TEST: Try running FamilySearch with your browser in Incognito or Private mode. If you do not see an error while in Incognito or Private mode, then you can be fairly certain that a browser add-on is the problem.
• Disable your VPN while you use FamilySearch.
• Try using FamilySearch on a different browser.

If the above does not work, one of the following solutions may help:

• Fix the date and time on your device.
• Clear cache and cookies.
• Reset your browser to its default configuration. Note: This will disable and potentially remove any extensions you may have installed.
• Make sure your device and operating system are fully updated.

MandyShaw1

@sc woz

So that people can make informed decisions on how (and indeed whether) they engage with FS given their own security configurations, I suggest you arrange for a list of supported VPNs to be published and maintained on the website.

Thanks.

SantaNinfa

@Laurie Baughman Bulson

@David Alan Webber

I use NordVPN to access this site. I am doing so right now. Aside from the initial annoying double-captcha verification to log in, it works very smoothly and is virtually unnoticeable.

Unfortunately, I also use the Italian site Antenati a great deal, and it rejects all VPNs immediately. So, I often find myself having to suspend my VPN while using Antenati. NordVPN makes this convenient and easy to do. Doing so doesn't concern me with respect to Antenati because I have other protocols in place.

Let's face it, there are many bad actors out there that attempt to mask themselves behind VPNs. I understand why many websites attempt to protect themselves (often in cumbersome ways) by rejecting access via VPNs. Most major banks in the USA just shrug when you access using a VPN, as they should. They perform their MFA and move on. But, that is not the case with many smaller websites.

The disparity between how FS and Antenati each handle it is a an example of how some sites are ready for prime time real security, and some are not. Until all websites worldwide are up to speed on this, I suppose it's up to the user to adjust their own security protocols accordingly. The decision to access those less advanced sites remains with the user. Caveat emptor.

MatthewScheich

It's infuriating. I have to answer two captcha minigames every time I pull up the site, and every half-hour it asks me to reverify that I'm human. This is literally the only website I visit that does this. If I can get into my banking websites without these problems, I should certainly be able to get into a family tree site. I absolutely will not change or disable my VPN because FS can't figure out their own security.

sc woz

@MatthewScheich

I have forwarded this incident up the line. Hopefully someone has an answer for you.

MatthewScheich

https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/590916#Comment_590916

I appreciate that, because I'm about ready to lose it. I've had to go through EIGHT captcha minigames today. It's ridiculous.