cheesefather

After the recent global distributed botnet attack on WordPress installations that took down servers and broke into admin accounts, I thought I’d write a plugin to prevent it happening again.
Distributed botnet attacks can come from multiple IP addresses and locations at the same time, so conventional IP-based lockouts are not effective (e.g. those found in Wordfence and other WordPress security plugins).
For example, if 1,000 different computers (with unique IP addresses) are trying to brute-force your admin password and you lock out each IP address after 5 incorrect attempts then you have still allowed 5,000 attempts. My plugin essentially ignores the different IP addresses and locks out all admin login attempts in a configurable way – so if you have it set to 5 failed attempts (default) then those 1,000 different computers will only have a total between them of 5 attempts.
You can select how many login failures causes the lockout, how much time to allow between failures, how long to block logins for and also you can input a whitelisted IP address (or multiple addresses separated with commas or spaces) which can bypass the lockdown and always log in – so you can still always get into your site even in the middle of an attack. There is also support for partial IP address matching for those with dynamic IP addresses. You can also define a secret key to bypass the lock.
<ul>
<li>Any failed login is counted regardless of username or IP address (unless whitelisted)</li>
<li>Once locked down, nobody can log in except from whitelisted IP addresses or using the secret key</li>
<li>You can specify the number of login failures that triggers a lockdown</li>
<li>You can specify the time between failed attempts that should be counted</li>
<li>You can specify how long the lockdown should last</li>
<li>You can add a secret key that bypasses the lockdown</li>
<li>You can customise the lockout message</li>
<li>You can add whitelisted IP addresses that bypass the lockdown</li>
<li>Partial IP address matching for dynamically-allocated IP addresses</li>
<li>Multisite compatible</li>
<li>Available in English, French, German, Italian and Russian</li>
</ul>

Botnet Attack Blocker

This plugin blocks distributed botnet brute-force attacks on your Wordpress installation.

Bill Minozzi

Anti Bots 
★★★★★
<h3>Effortless bot protection for WordPress. Set up in minutes, secure your site with just a few clicks!</h3>
<h3>🚀 In a Hurry? Block Bad Bots Instantly!</h3>
What it does: 
It’s a powerful bot firewall that automatically blocks malicious bots while allowing legitimate traffic. This plugin protects your site from data theft, server overload, and SEO damage caused by unwanted automated traffic.
Why it matters: 
WordPress sites are constantly targeted by malicious bots. Your site’s bot protection isn’t optional—it’s essential for survival. 
According to Cloudflare, 2.5% of ALL internet traffic is malicious bots—nearly 2 million attacks every second. These bots steal content, overload servers, and can destroy your SEO rankings overnight.
Key Protections: 
* Automatic Bad Bot Blocking: Instantly blocks malicious bots and scrapers 
* Smart Whitelisting: Pre-configured with 20+ trusted bots (Google, Bing, social networks) 
* Brute Force Prevention: Stops bots from attacking your login forms 
* Server Load Reduction: Prevents bot-induced slowdowns and crashes 
* Zero performance impact → No DNS changes, no cloud redirects, no speed penalty
Essential Features: 
* One-Click Setup: Fully operational in less than 2 minutes 
* Learning Mode: Test safely without blocking good traffic 
* Visitor Logging: See exactly who’s accessing your site 
* Spam Prevention: Blocks bots from submitting forms and comments 
* Independent Operation: Works without Fail2ban or server modifications
<h3>🔎 Want to Understand the Full Bot Threat? Continue Reading Below</h3>
Bad Bots: A Growing Danger
<blockquote>
Can you imagine the sheer volume of data crossing the internet every second? It’s truly monstrous, isn’t it? Millions of interactions, searches, and transactions… 
 Well, brace yourself for a staggering statistic: according to Cloudflare, the online security giant, about one-third (approximately 30-33%) of all this global traffic is generated by bots – that is, by computer programs, not humans. 
 And even more alarming: from this immense volume of bot traffic, Cloudflare identified that 8.6% have malicious purposes (Q1 2024 data). This means that approximately 2.5% of ALL internet traffic consists of malicious bots constantly active, searching for loopholes, stealing data, or trying to take down sites! That’s nearly 2 million attacks every second sweeping across the web. ** 
 But the news doesn’t stop there: this **malicious bot activity is constantly evolving and increasing. A key reason for this alarming trend is that: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is empowering even less-skilled attackers to create bots to steal information, while ready-made attack kits are sold on the dark web, amplifying both the volume and sophistication of threats. 
 Furthermore, the emergence of many new Artificial Intelligence websites means they now deploy their own bots for web crawling and data gathering, contributing significantly to overall bot traffic.
Bots can have a negative impact on your website in a number of ways. They can overload your server, which can cause performance problems such as slowness and longer response times. They can also look for vulnerabilities in your website and steal your content, which can damage your SEO.
</blockquote>
The Anti-Bot Plugin introduces an innovative approach to bot management and WordPress security. By default, it blocks all bots except those from Google and Microsoft Bing. You can also create a bot whitelist of approved bots, ensuring that only those you trust can access your site. The plugin includes a pre-configured list of approximately 20 reputable bots from major social networks, including Google and Microsoft. With our advanced learning mode, you can test the plugin and manage this list—adding or removing bots—without risking the blocking of beneficial ones. Additionally, the plugin features a visitor log to help you oversee this process.
<ul>
<li>stop bad bots</li>
<li>protect website from bots</li>
<li>website performance optimization</li>
</ul>
<h3>Key Features:</h3>
<ul>
<li>User-Friendly: Simple installation and setup with just 3-4 clicks.</li>
<li>Comprehensive Bot Protection: Effectively blocks unwanted bots, scrapers, and botnets while allowing trusted ones. Protects your website from bots and helps prevent bot attacks.</li>
<li>Customizable Whitelist: Comes with a pre-configured list of approximately 20 good bots from major social networks, including Google and Microsoft. Manage this list by adding or removing bots as needed.</li>
<li>Learning Mode: Test the plugin and build your whitelist without disrupting your site.</li>
<li>Prevents Bots from Spamming Comments and Contact Forms: Acts as a spam bot blocker.</li>
<li>Protect Your SEO: Prevents bots from stealing your content and negatively impacting your SEO.</li>
<li>Prevents Bots from Overloading Your Server: Mitigates performance degradation caused by bots, ensuring fast and seamless navigation for visitors. Site performance enhancement and helps increase website speed.</li>
<li>Brute Force Protection: Shields your login form from brute force attack protection.</li>
<li>Performance Friendly: No effect on site speed, no DNS or Cloud Traffic Redirection, and no risk of Google penalties for slow sites. Provides website security plugin and automated bot defense.</li>
<li>This plugin operates independently and does not require Fail2ban (Fail to Ban) to be installed on your server.</li>
</ul>
Translation ready. Files included: Dutch, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and German.
For enhanced protection, consider our free <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/StopBadBots/" rel="ugc">StopBadBots</a> plugin, which offers additional features to tackle more sophisticated threats. Please note that this option may require a slightly longer installation time due to its advanced capabilities and is designed for experienced users. 
Also need to protect your forms? 
<a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/recaptcha-for-all/" rel="ugc">Install our Free Recaptcha & Cloudflare Turnstile plugin.</a>
Please check out our demo video and documentation at: 
<a href="https://antibotsplugin.com/help/" rel="nofollow ugc">Online Guide</a> 
<a href="https://antibotsplugin.com/demo-video/" rel="nofollow ugc">Demo Video</a>
<iframe loading="lazy" class="youtube-player" width="750" height="422" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JmVR6BlEnaQ?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent" allowfullscreen="true" style="border:0;" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox"></iframe>
<a href="https://antibotsplugin.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Plugin Site</a> 
<a href="https://antihackerplugin.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Compatible With Anti Hacker Plugin</a>
<h3>CREDITS AND SOURCE FILES</h3>
We use Datatables to render our visitors table. 
You can find the complete files (no minimized) to download 
on this link: 
https://datatables.net/download/index 
Same thing for Bootstrap: 
https://getbootstrap.com/docs/4.3/getting-started/download/ 
Same thing for jQuery: 
https://jquery.com/download/
<h3>External service (1)</h3>
When using our chat, only some information about issues, such as your language and data from the Diagnose tab, may be sent to our server. We do not share, publish, or disclose any information with third parties. 
domain: https://BillMinozzi.com/chat/api/api.php
<h3>External service (2)</h3>
The plugin will retrieve tips and news from our site BillMinozzi.com. This information will be displayed in the plugin dashboard, in the right-hand column under the title “Tips and News.” No data is sent to our server. 
domain: https://billminozzi.com/API/bill-api.php
<h3>Advanced Site Health</h3>
WordPresss built-in Site Health feature provides a great baseline for your sites well-being. However, in todays digital landscape, true health goes beyond server configuration. A site can have a perfect score and still be slow, vulnerable, or plagued by critical errors.
Our plugin extends the core Site Health concept to provide a truly holistic analysis of what keeps your site fast, stable, and secure. We dont just check the basics; we diagnose critical issues that directly impact your visitors experience and your sites operational integrity.
Our enhanced checks include:Performance & Memory Analysis, Proactive Error Detection, Modern Security Monitoring. 
That involves querying public, authoritative services like rdap.db.ripe.net with visitor IP addresses for security analysis. 
domain: https://rdap.db.ripe.net/ip/
For a complete overview of all features, our data handling practices, and the full terms governing our software, please visit our official website: 
https://siterightaway.net/terms-of-use-of-our-plugins-and-themes/

Stop and Block bots plugin Anti-bots

Real-Time Bot Protection. Anti Bots (robots), crawlers and spiders also from botnets. Increase security and avoid server overload and bandwidth.

Botnet Attack Blocker vs Stop and Block bots plugin Anti-bots