NetMan Desktop Manager knowledge base


Tags HAN.V5 HAN.Accounts.Specific

Access via Cloudflare in HAN not possible

For example, the PDF download is no longer possible with Wiley, Taylor & Francis and others. Instead, the following error is displayed:

"This web property is not accessible via this address.
DDoS protection by Cloudflare"

Wiley states the following:

"We would like to give some further detail and apologise again for the interruption some users continue to experience with Wiley Online Library. 

The problem initially occurred on Tuesday 26 October when our security solution, Cloudflare, identified unusually high web traffic and potential malicious activity coming to Wiley Online Library. Stricter traffic filters were put in place on Cloudflare, which flagged EZproxy and other third party proxy solutions as a potential threat. As a result, institutions using these solutions were blocked from downloading PDFs on Wiley Online Library.

On Thursday 28 October we began collecting proxy IPs from affected institutions, so they could be flagged as trusted IPs in Cloudflare in order to allow the traffic. However, on Tuesday 2 November Cloudflare identified further potential malicious activity and Wiley Online Library went into “Under Attack” mode again for approximately 1 hour, resulting in additional temporary blocks to customers using EZproxy and other proxy solutions, including those who had been added to the approved list.

We appreciate and share your frustration at the interruption, but these security measures are necessary to prevent genuine malicious attacks occurring, which could severely disable Wiley Online Library.

We want to reassure you that our colleagues at Atypon are treating this as a critical priority, and are working urgently to establish a permanent solution. At present we do not have an estimated timescale, but we will let you know as soon as this is in place. In the meantime, if you are continuing to experience issues, the following interim options are available:

  • Contact our support team to supply your institution’s proxy IP address for the approved list. Please note that should Wiley Online Library re-enter ‘Under Attack’ mode, it is possible that access will be temporarily suspended again, even where your IP address is on the approved list.
  • Access Wiley Online Library via federated authentication (i.e. Shibboleth, OpenAthens)
  • Access Wiley Online Library via VPN

We are sincerely sorry for any inconvenience the current issue is causing – we are grateful for your patience whilst we establish a solution.

Taylor & Francis made a similar statement: "(...) confirm and provide us with the affected Proxy IP of your institutional account (...)"

SAGE and Ovid E-Books also use Cloudflare.

HAN is able to limit data traffic and block users if necessary, enabling our customers to uncover abuse themselves (keyword: transfer control).

Our product management will contact the manufacturers. As soon as there is a permanent solution here, we will let you know!


Article #3738 | 02/21/23 | Hartmut Mäcker