Pfui - 6:24 pm on Jun 28, 2009 (gmt 0)

I've been mulling this over since you first posted it, Bill. And mulling. And mulling. And I think my Number One impediment to creating new content, a.k.a. my Number One management problem, is not related to identifying/stopping search-related bots or notorious UAs and IPs. Rather, it's foiling Zombies [en.wikipedia.org] and spam Botnets [en.wikipedia.org].

-- Every five minutes or so, tag teams of two, three, five and more coordinated spambots from different infected Hosts/IPs make a beeline for specific POST files and launch their code. Used to be it was a single zombie somewhere but now, yeow! The numbers and locations of simultaneously controlled machines is a management nightmare. And the magnitude of infestation is also pretty alarming when you think of the Conficker, etc., potential to control, coordinate and attack.

-- If you have POST-possible files, how do y'all handle botnets? Do you lump them in with bad bots and auto-block based on X, Y or Z characteristics? Or--?

I use a daily-updated combination of mod_rewrite and deny from when it comes to notorious Hosts/IPs, even entire countries, ditto UAs, plus mod_rewrite REQUEST_URI and REQUEST_METHOD. And I have other blocks and such here and there that catch 99%. (knocks wood) But I'm still overrun by foiled attempts.

And alas, Key_Master's bot-stopping script [webmasterworld.com] requires writing to .htaccess and after re-approaching it every few months, I've yet to get it to work, let alone adapt it for botnets. Maybe next time, if I try...

-- So anyway, that's my I'd-rather-be-making-not-blockading tale o' woe, and I commiserate with all of us independent webmasters contending with the daily increase of bots of all kinds.

Heck, even Google can't keep spambots from its e-mail and groups, ditto Pogo and spambots in its chats, so chances of my solo success are slim. But I keep trying!

Hmm...

Maybe Tom Clancy will write a book about computer zombies and botnets, and the hero will solve it all:)