diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index a8bb895..5127878 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@ ubuntu-dev-tools (0.206) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   * syncpackage: s/syncblacklist/syncblocklist/g
   * syncpackage: Cache the sync blocklist in-memory, so it's not fetched
     multiple times when syncing more than one package.
+  * syncpackage: Catch exceptions cleanly, simply skipping to the next
+    package (erring on the side of caution) if there is an error doing the
+    download (LP: #1943286).
 
  -- Simon Quigley <tsimonq2@debian.org>  Tue, 04 Mar 2025 13:04:30 -0600
 
diff --git a/syncpackage b/syncpackage
index f230a0d..ece5e5c 100755
--- a/syncpackage
+++ b/syncpackage
@@ -459,8 +459,12 @@ def is_blocklisted(query):
     global cached_sync_blocklist
     if not cached_sync_blocklist:
         url = "https://ubuntu-archive-team.ubuntu.com/sync-blocklist.txt"
-        with urllib.request.urlopen(url) as f:
-            cached_sync_blocklist = f.read().decode("utf-8")
+        try:
+            with urllib.request.urlopen(url) as f:
+                cached_sync_blocklist = f.read().decode("utf-8")
+        except:
+            print("WARNING: unable to download the sync blocklist. Erring on the side of caution.")
+            return ("ALWAYS", "INTERNAL ERROR: Unable to fetch sync blocklist")
 
     applicable_lines = []
     for line in cached_sync_blocklist.splitlines():