toggling a block of ALL foreign IPs

Andy <aschla...@aol.com>, Mon, 20 Dec 2010 19:14:51 -0800 (PST):

Is there any easy way for me to internally block ALL foreign IPs,
without blocking any American ones?

As our enemies continue to use denial of service attacks, all of which
are through foreign IPs, I'm thinking that a toggling of a foreign-IP
block would be very effective as a defensive measure.

Any thoughts?

Andy

Temlakos <temla...@gmail.com>, Tue, 21 Dec 2010 07:26:27 -0500:

Andy:

It's time for some of us to begin a crash course, possibly of our own
devising, on How To Extend MediaWiki 101.

Theoretically, this shouldn't be a complex problem. We know that various
Class A, B, C, D, and E networks commonly resolve exclusively to the USA
and to various countries. We should even be able to recognize an IP that
comes from the Netherlands, and distinguish it from one that comes, say,
from the Republic of Israel.

It's just that I don't know--yet--all the "hooks" that an extension
needs to have. I found "extending" Semantic MediaWiki for CreationWiki
difficult enough. (I sought to extend their Date datatype to reach back
in history, and to recognize a date in the Hillel calendar or even in
Floyd Nolen Jones' best estimate of the Biblical calendar.)

Of course, saying the above means that I do not know whether anyone as
yet written an extension for MediaWiki that allows selective blocking of
networks referable to a given country, or selectively /allowing/ only
IPs from the USA.

TerryH

Andy <aschla...@aol.com>, Tue, 21 Dec 2010 10:56:11 -0800 (PST):

I now see that it is not difficult to map out the entire world with
respect to IP addresses, and then internally range-block the trouble
spots.  I'd even be willing to share this list on a confidential basis
with other wikis so that they can cut down on their bot vandalism.

As our block-map gets better and better, performance will improve,
page-inflation will end, and we can even open registration and editing
as before.  This solves so many issues that I'm sorry I didn't think
of this earlier.

Andy

Jpatt <buysellx...@gmail.com>, Tue, 21 Dec 2010 11:03:59 -0800 (PST):

Killing off foreign IP access is a great idea that needs to be further
explored.

--John

Temlakos <temla...@gmail.com>, Tue, 21 Dec 2010 15:59:51 -0500:

Agreed. But we must do it selectively. Best to isolate a particular
country and block /their/ networks, while leaving access open to other,
unoffending countries. (To give you an example: I wouldn't care to go
through a proxy when I am trying to upload one of my pictures from Israel.)

TerryH

Andy <aschla...@aol.com>, Tue, 21 Dec 2010 18:14:36 -0800 (PST):

Vandals attack our site (and presumably other wikis on our side) from
about 61 IP ranges in the overall IP spectrum of IP addresses
beginning with 1.zzz,zzz.zzz through 122.zzz.zzz.zzz.

Of those 61 IP ranges, only 24 are shared by the United States.  The
vast majority -- 37 total -- are completely foreign and I could block
them entirely now without our noticing anything but better speed and
fewer vandals.

The shared IP ranges can be carefully blocked over time also, but
merely require adding greater precision to the range:  e.g., I'll
internally block 24.aaa.*, where "aaa" specifies foreign use within
the range, rather than 24.*

Andy

Karajou <kara...@gmail.com>, Tue, 21 Dec 2010 20:25:02 -0600:

There's a T-shirt design going around related to military snipers, which
basically states "kill 'em all...let God sort 'em out!"

Since there's no blood being shed here, I'd say we would have no problem
whatsoever from the Lord if we "killed" off these IPs.  The individuals
committing these acts of vandalism against us will just be forced to find
another hobby.

Perhaps building model cars?