Why Should You Block Non-UK IP Addresses From Your Servers?

Are your business applications hosted on a remote platform? If so, ensuring they’re protected against rising global cyber threats is critical. One of the most effective ways to strengthen your security is by blocking non-UK IP addresses from accessing your servers.

In this post, we’ll explore why UK businesses should restrict server access to UK-based traffic, how it reduces cyber risk, and what steps to take if international access is needed.

Whether you run a hosted finance system, CRM, or other remote tools, this guide will show you how geo-blocking can protect your data, users and operations, without compromising functionality.

What Does Blocking Non-UK IP Addresses Mean?

Blocking non-UK IP addresses means configuring your firewall to allow only traffic originating from IPs located within the United Kingdom. Any attempts to connect to your hosted platform from outside the UK will be automatically denied unless explicitly whitelisted.

For many businesses using hosted desktops or applications (such as financial software or industry-specific platforms), this can provide an extra layer of protection without disrupting daily operations.

Why Should You Consider This Security Measure?

1. Reduced Attack Surface

One of the most compelling reasons to block foreign IPs is the significant reduction in attack vectors. Global threat actors often target exposed services across borders, exploiting vulnerabilities in remote desktop protocols (RDP), web applications and more.

By limiting traffic to UK-only sources, you immediately shrink the number of potential attackers that can even attempt to connect to your system.

2. Tailored to Your Business Geography

If your workforce and operations are predominantly UK-based, there’s little to no reason to allow international traffic. Doing so often invites unnecessary risk without providing any real operational benefit.

Blocking non-UK IP addresses ensures your systems are accessible only by the people who truly need them, your team and verified partners operating within the UK.

3. Protection Against Automated Attacks

Many intrusion attempts come from automated bots scanning IP ranges for vulnerabilities. These bots often originate from countries with high volumes of cybercrime. A geographic firewall rule can immediately filter out automated malicious traffic, reducing server load and enhancing overall stability.

4. Compliance and Data Integrity

Geolocation filtering better supports data control by helping to ensure that data hosted in the UK is accessed only from UK-based endpoints. This adds a layer of compliance assurance for sectors dealing with sensitive data, like finance, healthcare and legal services.

When Should You Allow Non-UK Access?

There are some legitimate use cases for non-UK access:

• Remote employees or contractors based overseas

• Travelling staff who need remote access

• International partners or clients

In these scenarios, a secure and controlled approach — such as whitelisting specific IP addresses or countries — ensures business continuity without exposing your entire infrastructure.

What Are the Risks of Not Blocking Foreign IPs?

Failure to restrict international access can expose your platform to:

Brute-force login attempts

Brute-force attacks involve cybercriminals using automated tools to rapidly guess usernames and passwords until they gain access to your system. These attacks are often run from servers or infected machines located overseas, where cybercrime enforcement may be weak or non-existent.

Without geolocation filtering, your hosted platform is openly exposed to round-the-clock login attempts from global bots and malicious actors. Even if those attempts fail, they can still slow down your systems, lock out legitimate users, or consume server resources, degrading performance and user experience.

A UK-based logistics company, KNP (Knights of Old), was brought down after attackers cracked an employee’s password via brute force, leading to ransomware and ultimately their collapse, impacting around 700 jobs.

Phishing or credential stuffing attacks

Credential stuffing occurs when attackers use lists of stolen usernames and passwords, often leaked from other breaches, to gain access to your platform. Phishing complements this by tricking users into revealing their login details through fake login pages or emails.

Allowing unrestricted international access makes your system a more attractive target for these attacks, especially from regions where data breaches and hacking infrastructure are more prevalent. By blocking non-UK IP addresses, you significantly reduce the chance that stolen credentials will be used successfully, particularly if the attacker is operating from outside the UK.

In 2022–23, Akamai recorded nearly 193 billion credential-stuffing attempts globally, with 3.4 billion targeting financial services - a massive scale assault strategy.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks

A DDoS attack overwhelms your hosted server with massive amounts of traffic, typically launched from a network of infected devices (botnets) spread across multiple countries. The goal is to disrupt your services, making them slow or completely inaccessible to legitimate users.

Geolocation restrictions can help reduce the risk and impact of these attacks by blocking traffic from high-risk regions known for hosting botnets and by limiting the number of entry points attackers can exploit. This enhances both performance stability and business continuity.

UK government surveys show 15% of businesses experienced denial-of-service attacks in the past year, while Microsoft reported 1,700 DDoS incidents per day globally in 2023.

Malware injection attempts

Attackers often scan open servers looking for vulnerabilities they can exploit to inject malicious code or malware, which can lead to data theft, corruption or full system compromise. These malware injection attempts are frequently carried out from overseas IP addresses and use a variety of techniques, including exploit kits, SQL injection and remote desktop protocol (RDP) vulnerabilities.

Blocking non-UK IP addresses helps to prevent these intrusion attempts from reaching your hosted platform in the first place. It’s a pre-emptive layer of protection that reduces your exposure to exploit attempts originating from countries with weak cybersecurity governance or known malicious activity.

Injection attacks remain among the most prevalent threats on the OWASP Top Ten list; they often result in data theft, system takeover or application hijacking.

How We’re Making This Change at The HBP Group

As a customer, your security is our top priority. If you, your staff, or any trusted third parties (e.g., overseas contractors, remote employees) need to access your hosted platform from outside the UK, it is crucial that you notify us as soon as possible. We will need to whitelist the specific countries from which access is required to ensure uninterrupted service for those users.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. If I am overseas, how will this affect my services?

A. Anything which you access via the remote desktop will not be available whilst you are overseas. This varies for each customer, but typically includes finance systems and any Microsoft 365 apps you access via the remote desktop.

Q. Will this affect my services if all my users are in the UK?

A: No, if all your users and services accessing the hosted platform are based within the UK, you should experience no disruption.

Q: What information do you need if I have users outside the UK?

A: For permanent overseas workers, we can permanently whitelist their countries of operation. For temporary access (e.g., staff on annual leave), please provide the country and the specific dates or duration for which access is needed.

Q: How long will it take for you to whitelist a country?

A: Once we receive your request, we aim to process whitelisting requests as P4 tickets, which have a 2-hour guaranteed response time and a 3-day target fix time. We recommend submitting these requests in advance of the access requirements.

Q: How long does the whitelisting last - will it eventually expire?

A: For non-permanent requests, e.g. annual leave, we will whitelist the countries based on the agreed timescales. After this point, the country will be blocked again.

Q: What happens if I don't notify you and someone tries to access from outside the UK after August 13th?

A: They will be blocked from accessing the platform. If this occurs, please contact us immediately so we can whitelist the necessary country.

How We Can Help You Further

To assist you with logging whitelisting requests, here is a simple 5-step guide:

• Step 1: Log in to the customer support portal.
   
• Step 2: Select "Need Something New?"
   

• Step 3: Select "Not Listed?"
   

• Step 4: Complete the details, including: destination of travel, timeframe of travel, impact as 'Low, Single User Affected' and urgency as 'Low, Inconvenient'.
   
• Step 5: If you are not the security contact, we will seek approval and authorise the whitelist. Once approved, you can access your remote desktop again.