Why can't I access my company portal? Static IP whitelisting

Q: What is IP whitelisting?

Many organisations restrict sensitive systems to an allow-list of known IP addresses — the office network, approved remote workers, specific partners. Connections from any other address are refused before login even matters. It’s a strong security layer, but it assumes your IP is known and stable.

Quick answer

You try to reach a work portal or internal app from home and get blocked — even with the right login. Often the cause is IP whitelisting: the company only allows connections from approved addresses, and yours isn’t one. Here’s why, and what to do.

What is IP whitelisting?

Many organisations restrict sensitive systems to an allow-list of known IP addresses — the office network, approved remote workers, specific partners. Connections from any other address are refused before login even matters. It’s a strong security layer, but it assumes your IP is known and stable.

Why does your home connection get blocked?

Two things commonly trip remote workers up. First, most home connections have a dynamic IP that changes — so even if IT whitelisted your address last month, it may have rotated and no longer matches. Second, you might be on a different network than the one that was approved (mobile data, a café, a new home). Check your current public IP on our homepage and compare it to what IT has on file.

The usual solution: connect through the VPN

The standard fix is the corporate VPN. When you connect to it, your traffic exits from the company’s network, so you appear to come from an approved address — satisfying the whitelist regardless of your actual home IP. If the portal works on VPN but not off it, whitelisting is almost certainly the cause. A split-tunnel setup can route just the work traffic through it.

If you need your home IP whitelisted

For setups without a VPN, IT may whitelist your specific home IP. The problem: a dynamic IP breaks that when it changes. Options are to request a static IP from your ISP (so your address stays fixed and can stay whitelisted), or for IT to whitelist a broader range — though that weakens the control. Give IT your current IP from our homepage when requesting access.

What to tell IT

When you report the block, include your current public IP (from our homepage), whether it changes, and whether you’re on home broadband, mobile, or another network. That lets them decide between whitelisting your address, routing you through the VPN, or another approach — far faster than “the portal won’t load.”