We are trialling the following solution for blocking what is fast becoming a scourge of the web; SEMalt referrer spam.
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| # Source: http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2014/08/tips-for-blocking-semalt-and-botnet-attacks.html | |
| # Block SEMalt botnet | |
| SetEnvIfNoCase Referer fbdownloader.com spammer=yes | |
| SetEnvIfNoCase Referer descargar-musicas-gratis.com spammer=yes | |
| SetEnvIfNoCase Referer baixar-musicas-gratis.com spammer=yes | |
| SetEnvIfNoCase Referer savetubevideo.com spammer=yes | |
| SetEnvIfNoCase Referer srecorder.com spammer=yes | |
| SetEnvIfNoCase Referer kambasoft.com spammer=yes | |
| SetEnvIfNoCase Referer semalt.com spammer=yes | |
| Order allow,deny | |
| Allow from all | |
| Deny from env=spammer | |
| # End SEMalt blocking |
.htaccess file on one of our personal sites, and we’ll see how it does there before implementing these measures on the rest of the sites we manage. Update to follow.
UPDATE: While blocking at the server IS working, there is much more to blocking this type of spam which is detailed here and here.