Blocked IPs go right back to unblocked

  • Resolved TGoedde

    (@tgoedde)


    4 years, 2 months ago

    I use wordfence on many of my websites. About once a week I go through some sites and block suspicious attempts of folks trying to get into my sites. But the IP addresses I block go right back to unblocked the next time I check the status of traffic and All Hits. What am I doing wrong here? Why should I go to the effort of spending an hour per site to block several hundred login attempts or back door entrance attempts to have them just come right back on the list? Is clicking BLOCK IP a waste of time? It is very frustrating to spend the time for what appears to be a waste of time.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Plugin Support wfpeter

    (@wfpeter)

    Hi @tgoedde, thanks for your question.

    You’re absolutely not wasting your time in blocking these attempts, but your settings may be too lenient for your personal preference.

    If you take a look at Wordfence > All Options > Rate Limiting, increasing How long is an IP address blocked when it breaks a rule from minutes to hours or even days can be very effective at preventing bots that are attempting access to your site from repeatedly trying again. The reason these blocks do not last forever is due to the changing nature of IPs, so it may be assigned to a legitimate visitor in future.

    If you see persistent troublemakers that you wish to take more permanent action against, you can view the “Current blocks” section in Live Traffic, then use the “Make Permanent” button after selecting the checkbox next to the IP(s). You might find our help documents helpful to configure this: https://www.wordfence.com/help/blocking/#ip-address

    I hope this helps you out.

    Thanks,

    Peter.

    Thread Starter TGoedde

    (@tgoedde)

    Thank you so much for the response Peter. I will definitely give this a try today.

    Merry CHRISTmas!

    Plugin Support wfpeter

    (@wfpeter)

    No worries at all, happy holidays!

    Peter.

    Thread Starter TGoedde

    (@tgoedde)

    Hello again,
    I am not seeing a “Make Permanent” option in the Live Traffic section.

    Plugin Support wfpeter

    (@wfpeter)

    Hi @tgoedde,

    The “Make permanent” button appears under Wordfence > Firewall > Blocking > Current blocks for…

    Thanks again,

    Peter.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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