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blacklist_to_modsec 0.0.0

Today, I publicly released a piece of code called ‘blacklist_to_modsec’. This is a fairly simple Perl script, with a bit of hastily-written documentation. I’ve been using it for a few weeks now personally, and today on the ProNet mailing list, I offered it for public consumption as a possible aid to those who are being deluged by the recent rash of Trackback spam.

What does it do? Basically, this script takes Jay Allen’s Master Blacklist, parses it, and converts it into mod_security rules. This allows you to block various types of spam before it reaches your website; for me, it has effectively blocked many trackback and comment spams, as well as spams targeted at Gallery (the latest up-and-coming trend for spammers). In other words, using mod_security to block spam crosses the boundaries of blogging software; it would help those using WordPress just as much as it would help those using Movable Type. By integrating this script into your system’s crontab, you won’t need to worry about whether your blacklist is up to date - it will update from the master blacklist as often as you like.

Where do I get it? If you are interested in finding out a bit more, you can find the documentation (such as it is) and a download link here. The documentation and code are pretty scruffy at the moment, but I’ll work on updating them as I have time.

Please note You will need to know how to work with Apache and mod_security before using this tool. I’m not providing any assistance on getting those things set up - I will only point you to their websites which contain all of the documentation you should need.

Credit where credit is due

• Jay Allen for creating MT-Blacklist and maintaining the master blacklist.
• Ivan Ristic for creating mod_security
• Richard Bowen for giving me the idea to use mod_security to block comment spam.
• Arvind Satyanarayan for giving me a further nudge in the right direction.

Update Version 1.0.0 is released, with many improvements.