I have a firewall rule to drop packets from certain addresses: (email spam) my /etc/sysconfig/iptables begins as: # Generated by iptables-save v1.4.7 on Thu Jun 26 09:11:09 2014 *filter :INPUT ACCEPT [0:0] :FORWARD ACCEPT [0:0] :OUTPUT ACCEPT [1:148] -A INPUT -m pkttype --pkt-type multicast -j ACCEPT -A INPUT -s 223.255.229.0/24 -j DROP -A INPUT -s 218.96.0.0/24 -j DROP -A INPUT -s 216.227.128.0/24 -j DROP -A INPUT -s 216.156.135.0/24 -j DROP -A INPUT -s 213.251.189.0/24 -j DROP -A INPUT -s 213.239.219.0/24 -j DROP -A INPUT -s 213.205.32.0/24 -j DROP -A INPUT -s 213.136.70.0/24 -j DROP -A INPUT -s 212.178.110.0/24 -j DROP -A INPUT -s 212.83.141.0/24 -j DROP -A INPUT -s 212.83.136.0/24 -j DROP -A INPUT -s 212.83.134.0/24 -j DROP -A INPUT -s 210.107.197.0/24 -j DROP -A INPUT -s 209.239.123.0/24 -j DROP -A INPUT -s 209.133.56.0/24 -j DROP -A INPUT -s 209.126.73.0/24 -j DROP -A INPUT -s 209.126.72.0/24 -j DROP -A INPUT -s 209.126.71.0/24 -j DROP -A INPUT -s 209.126.70.0/24 -j DROP -A INPUT -s 198.101.11.0/24 -j DROP then /var/log/maillog gices this entry. from=<griffon at dree.eu>, size=9037, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=< 3542.159.259897.271846 at dree.eu> , proto=ESMTP, daemon=MTA, relay=[198.101.11.141] How is that coming through??? Why is the firewall not dropping the packets? I have restarted iptables so the rules are active . And just to make sure: iptables -L -n | grep 198.101 DROP all -- 198.101.11.0/24 0.0.0.0/0 Thoughts? Thanks. Jerry