403 access denied and sitemap error in google

[kyomar]

Hi, I hope some experts here can help as I cannot find a solution.
I am getting a sitemap error: "We encountered an error while trying to access your Sitemap. Please ensure your Sitemap follows our guidelines and can be accessed at the location you provided and then resubmit".  I am using elxis' xml sitemap and haven't had any problems for years.
I am also getting crawl errors "403 access denied" for all pages. Fetch as google produces an error as well.
I have already contacted the host company but no server error, the logs are clean.
I would be really grateful for any help/hint. Thank you!
PS. I am using latest elxis version.

[webgift]

You can find some information about 403 error to the link [1] as quote you below.
Please send me access to your website in order to check what's going on.

[1]: https://www.lifewire.com/403-forbidden-error-explained-2617989
 

[kyomar]

Hi Webgift, thanks a lot. Here are the print screens.

[kyomar]

and here is the fetch as google result.

[datahell]

Check if Google has been banned by Elxis Defender. Clear defender bans and check if the problem is solved.

[kyomar]

That did the trick. Thank you so much datahell & webgift. I didn't know which bans were google related so I cleared the whole file. How can I make sure google doesn't get banned again?
I have used elxis for many years and I am still loving it. You guys rock!

[webgift]

He is fast like a lightning!  ... Who is this? @datahell!