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I created some iptables rules, basically allowing incoming traffic from TCP/UDP Ports 80,53(for the bind server), 22, and blocking everything else incoming however I forgot to allow the ICMP protocol through the filter.

This resulted in expected issues with ping, traceroute, and everything else relying on ICMP. I also noticed a very peculiar thing happening. Our blog spam on the sites hosted almost quadrupled.

What could cause this? I wanted to figure out the issue before turning back on the firewall with ICMP enabled in case there's another explanation.

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It's a coincidence. Once the spammers found a way into your blog they just sent more traffic (or possibly more spammers found you). Turning ON ICMP could cause an increase (as you'd show up on more default nmap scans which could conceivable be used to locate hosts), but turning it OFF shouldn't.

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