Can I create a "SPAMMERS GET LOST" file named formmail.pl

Getting annoyed seeing all the attempts to crack my site mail

[pianobody]

The hits climb seemingly every day of Spammers trying to crack into cgi-bin mail services. Can I create a page or two with the extension .pl that is actually just an html "Go the hell away" message to all of them?

Or is that a really bad idea and would it be better just to let it happen, safe in the thought that I don't have what they're looking for?

Thanks,

Pablo

[edited by: engine at 7:52 pm (utc) on Aug. 19, 2003]
[edit reason] No sigs, thanks. See TOS [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]

[claus]

yep, it' easy:

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#!/usr/bin/perl
 
print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
print "Welcome to my wonderful mailservice beloved guest";

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-you might want to change the wording. Plus, they´re bots, so they'll probably not read it, but it's a nice gesture anyway ;)

/claus

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added: you might want to try this script in stead:

"Bad-bot script follow up"
[webmasterworld.com...]

[Key_Master]

Why go through the trouble? They'll never see it.

[pianobody]

That's what I needed to know...wasn't aware that it's robots versus humans doing the cracking.

Thanks.

[claus]

Key_Master you're right... doing this means that they will not get a 404, so they might just come back.

I'll recommend adding this to your .htaccess file in stead, it does about the same as the thread subject - i use it myself, and it makes them dissappear after some attempts.

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (.?mail.?form¦form¦(GM)?form.?.?mail¦.?mail)(2¦to)?\.?(asp¦cgi¦exe¦php¦pl¦pm)?$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^.*$ - [F]

The broken pipes "¦" must be replaced by the real ones entered from your keyboard, this forum does not display the right ones. There are just threee lines, all starting with the letter R.

/claus

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BTW: Welcome to WebmasterWorld pianobody :)