Hostname blocking doesn’t work

Are you using wildcards in your Wordfence blocking rules? Examples from my Wordfence
Hostname
*.sadecehosting.net
*.amazonaws.com

Or referrer
*notey*

Using .htaccess is a convenient way of doing some Apache configuration, but it’s resource intensive as it reloads during every every page load, so it’s best to keep it short and not including demanding routines. Blocking using Wordfence application firewall is less resource intensive.

Consider working your defense from the “application side.” IN other words, concentrate on configuring Wordfence and perhaps use a few more security plugins:
WPS Hide Login
IQ Block Country with Admin Block enabled ($5.00 year)

Two things with Wordfence 1)When frequency blocking, set with fairly lengthy block times, I use two days 2)If you study your logs and such, you’ll see certain types or specific URLs the bots are attacking, develop your own rules with wildcards, and create a robust list of blocks in the Wordfence Immediatly Block URLs feature.

Caching will drive you crazy with this sort of thing, while testing eliminate all caching possible, and of course clear browser cache before any testing. I use an entirely separate computer on a VPN IP address for testing.

The speed issue is nuanced. I’ve tested Wordfence for overhead and it’s amazingly fast. WordFence tech support told me once that it’s better and faster in many ways than .htacces, due to how Wordfence performs blocking, etcettera. My tests verified that. The main problem with .htaccess is that it loads over and over and over again, if it’s got slow stuff in it, like reverse DNS lookups and huge IP tables, plus lots of redirects, it’s resource intensive. Google it up, this is common knowledge. To actually utilize Apache efficiently requires setting up security at the upper level, using software such as CSF or ModSecurity. Doing so is good because it helps limit the server login and SFTP login attacks that neither .htaccess nor Wordfence have any effect on. I spent years tweaking .htaccess, with a high traffic site at issues with bandwidth, in my experience it’s better to keep the .htaccess simple and short, and use either application firewalls or again, full-on server firewalls such as CSF. My two cents, anyway.

MTN

In any case, again, perhaps try approaching this from the “other” side using Wordfence, working on your frequency blocking and blocking specific URLs that the bots perhaps are attacking. I’ve found the frequency blocking to be super effective, as well as the URL blocking. Sorry, I’m as mystified as you are as to why you can’t simply block everything coming from amazonaws, perhaps someone from Wordfence could chime in here. MTN

Hi @justatest47

Since we haven’t heard from you for a while I’m going to go ahead and resolve this thread. If you have any other questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to open a new one.

Thanks.