Jim Walker from HackRepair.com posted a 2016 version of his Bad Bots .htaccess on Pastebin. I offered Jim to translate his Bad Bots .htaccess to web.config, to be used with Windows Server IIS. And here it is, learn to protect your WordPress website with this web.config file!

Bad Bots web.config for Windows Server IIS

Just put the following content in a new text file, save as web.config and upload it to your website. Note, your hosting provider may have denied access to some settings, but basically all you need is IIS URL Rewrite.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
  <system.webServer>
    <httpProtocol>
      <customHeaders>
        <!--
          # Security related. May help against some types of drive-by-downloads
          # Read more: https://www.owasp.org/index.php/List_of_useful_HTTP_headers
        -->
        <add name="X-Content-Type-Options" value="nosniff" />
        <!--
          # Security related. May help against some types of cross-site scripting attacks
          # Read more: https://www.owasp.org/index.php/List_of_useful_HTTP_headers
        -->
        <add name="X-XSS-Protection" value="1; mode=block" />
      </customHeaders>
    </httpProtocol>

    <rewrite>
      <rules>
        <rule name="Block Common Malicious Bot Queries" stopProcessing="true">
          <match url=".*" ignoreCase="false" />
          <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAny">
            <add input="{QUERY_STRING}" pattern="http\:\/\/www\.google\.com\/humans\.txt\?" />
            <add input="{QUERY_STRING}" pattern="(img|thumb|thumb_editor|thumbopen).php" />
            <add input="{QUERY_STRING}" pattern="fckeditor" />
            <add input="{QUERY_STRING}" pattern="revslider" />
          </conditions>
          <action type="CustomResponse" statusCode="403" statusReason="Forbidden" statusDescription="Forbidden" />
        </rule>

        <rule name="Abuse User Agents Blocking" stopProcessing="true">
        <!--
          # Blocking user agents stops traffic from the named bots below
          # it matches any bot named below
        -->
          <match url=".*" ignoreCase="false" />
          <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAny">
            <add input="{HTTP_USER_AGENT}" pattern="^.*(1Noonbot|1on1searchBot|3D_SEARCH|3DE_SEARCH2|3GSE|50.nu|192.comAgent|360Spider|A6-Indexer|AASP|ABACHOBot|Abonti|abot|AbotEmailSearch|Aboundex|AboutUsBot|AccMonitor\ Compliance|accoona|AChulkov.NET\ page\ walker|Acme.Spider|AcoonBot|acquia-crawler|ActiveTouristBot|Acunetix|Ad\ Muncher|AdamM|adbeat_bot|adminshop.com|Advanced\ Email|AESOP_com_SpiderMan|AESpider|AF\ Knowledge\ Now\ Verity|aggregator:Vocus|ah-ha.com|AhrefsBot|AIBOT|aiHitBot|aipbot|AISIID|AITCSRobot|Akamai-SiteSnapshot|AlexaWebSearchPlatform|AlexfDownload|Alexibot|AlkalineBOT|All\ Acronyms|Amfibibot|AmPmPPC.com|AMZNKAssocBot|Anemone|Anonymous|Anonymouse.org|AnotherBot|AnswerBot|AnswerBus|AnswerChase\ PROve|AntBot|antibot-|AntiSantyWorm|Antro.Net|AONDE-Spider|Aport|Aqua_Products|AraBot|Arachmo|Arachnophilia|archive.org_bot|aria\ eQualizer|arianna.libero.it|Arikus_Spider|Art-Online.com|ArtavisBot|Artera|ASpider|ASPSeek|asterias|AstroFind|athenusbot|AtlocalBot|Atomic_Email_Hunter|attach|attrakt|attributor|Attributor.comBot|augurfind|AURESYS|AutoBaron|autoemailspider|autowebdir|AVSearch-|axfeedsbot|Axonize-bot|Ayna|b2w|BackDoorBot|BackRub|BackStreet\ Browser|BackWeb|Baiduspider-video|Bandit|BatchFTP|baypup|BDFetch|BecomeBot|BecomeJPBot|BeetleBot|Bender|besserscheitern-crawl|betaBot|Big\ Brother|Big\ Data|Bigado.com|BigCliqueBot|Bigfoot|BIGLOTRON|Bilbo|BilgiBetaBot|BilgiBot|binlar|bintellibot|bitlybot|BitvoUserAgent|Bizbot003|BizBot04|BizBot04\ kirk.overleaf.com|Black.Hole|Black\ Hole|Blackbird|BlackWidow|bladder\ fusion|Blaiz-Bee|BLEXBot|Blinkx|BlitzBOT|Blog\ Conversation\ Project|BlogMyWay|BlogPulseLive|BlogRefsBot|BlogScope|Blogslive|BloobyBot|BlowFish|BLT|bnf.fr_bot|BoaConstrictor|BoardReader-Image-Fetcher|BOI_crawl_00|BOIA-Scan-Agent|BOIA.ORG-Scan-Agent|boitho.com-dc|Bookmark\ Buddy|bosug|Bot\ Apoena|BotALot|BotRightHere|Botswana|bottybot|BpBot|BRAINTIME_SEARCH|BrokenLinkCheck.com|BrowserEmulator|BrowserMob|BruinBot|BSearchR&D|BSpider|btbot|Btsearch|Buddy|Buibui|BuildCMS|BuiltBotTough|Bullseye|bumblebee|BunnySlippers|BuscadorClarin|Butterfly|BuyHawaiiBot|BuzzBot|byindia|BySpider|byteserver|bzBot|c\ r\ a\ w\ l\ 3\ r|CacheBlaster|CACTVS\ Chemistry|Caddbot|Cafi|Camcrawler|CamelStampede|Canon-WebRecord|Canon-WebRecordPro|CareerBot|casper|cataguru|CatchBot|CazoodleBot|CCBot|CCGCrawl|ccubee|CD-Preload|CE-Preload|Cegbfeieh|Cerberian\ Drtrs|CERT\ FigleafBot|cfetch|CFNetwork|Chameleon|ChangeDetection|Charlotte|Check&Get|Checkbot|Checklinks|checkprivacy|CheeseBot|ChemieDE-NodeBot|CherryPicker|CherryPickerElite|CherryPickerSE|Chilkat|ChinaClaw|CipinetBot|cis455crawler|citeseerxbot|cizilla.com|ClariaBot|clshttp|Clushbot|cmsworldmap|coccoc|CollapsarWEB|Collector|combine|comodo|conceptbot|ConnectSearch|conpilot|ContentSmartz|ContextAd|contype|cookieNET|CoolBott|CoolCheck|Copernic|Copier|CopyRightCheck|core-project|cosmos|Covario-IDS|Cowbot-|Cowdog|crabbyBot|crawl|Crawl_Application|crawl.UserAgent|CrawlConvera|crawler|crawler_for_infomine|CRAWLER-ALTSE.VUNET.ORG-Lynx|crawler-upgrade-config|crawler.kpricorn.org|crawler@|crawler4j|crawler43.ejupiter.com|Crawly|CreativeCommons|Crescent|Crescent\ Internet\ ToolPak\ HTTP\ OLE\ Control|cs-crawler|CSE\ HTML\ Validator|CSHttpClient|Cuasarbot|culsearch|Curl|Custo|Cutbot|cvaulev|Cyberdog|CyberNavi_WebGet|CyberSpyder|CydralSpider).*quot; />
            <add input="{HTTP_USER_AGENT}" pattern="^.*(D1GArabicEngine|DA|DataCha0s|DataFountains|DataparkSearch|DataSpearSpiderBot|DataSpider|Dattatec.com|Dattatec.com-Sitios-Top|Daumoa|DAUMOA-video|DAUMOA-web|Declumbot|Deepindex|deepnet|DeepTrawl|dejan|del.icio.us-thumbnails|DelvuBot|Deweb|DiaGem|Diamond|DiamondBot|diavol|DiBot|didaxusbot|DigExt|Digger|DiGi-RSSBot|DigitalArchivesBot|DigOut4U|DIIbot|Dillo|Dir_Snatch.exe|DISCo|DISCo\ Pump|discobot|DISCoFinder|Distilled-Reputation-Monitor|Dit|DittoSpyder|DjangoTraineeBot|DKIMRepBot|DoCoMo|DOF-Verify|domaincrawler|DomainScan|DomainWatcher|dotbot|DotSpotsBot|Dow\ Jonesbot|Download|Download\ Demon|Downloader|DOY|dragonfly|Drip|drone|DTAAgent|dtSearchSpider|dumbot|Dwaar|Dwaarbot|DXSeeker|EAH|EasouSpider|EasyDL|ebingbong|EC2LinkFinder|eCairn-Grabber|eCatch|eChooseBot|ecxi|EdisterBot|EduGovSearch|egothor|eidetica.com|EirGrabber|ElisaBot|EllerdaleBot|EMail\ Exractor|EmailCollector|EmailLeach|EmailSiphon|EmailWolf|EMPAS_ROBOT|EnaBot|endeca|EnigmaBot|Enswer\ Neuro|EntityCubeBot|EroCrawler|eStyleSearch|eSyndiCat|Eurosoft-Bot|Evaal|Eventware|Everest-Vulcan|Exabot|Exabot-Images|Exabot-Test|Exabot-XXX|ExaBotTest|ExactSearch|exactseek.com|exooba|Exploder|explorersearch|extract|Extractor|ExtractorPro|EyeNetIE|ez-robot|Ezooms|factbot|FairAd\ Client|falcon|Falconsbot|fast-search-engine|FAST\ Data\ Document|FAST\ ESP|fastbot|fastbot.de|FatBot|Favcollector|Faviconizer|FDM|FedContractorBot|feedfinder|FelixIDE|fembot|fetch_ici|Fetch\ API\ Request|fgcrawler|FHscan|fido|Filangy|FileHound|FindAnISP.com_ISP_Finder|findlinks|FindWeb|Firebat|Fish-Search-Robot|Flaming\ AttackBot|Flamingo_SearchEngine|FlashCapture|FlashGet|flicky|FlickySearchBot|flunky|focused_crawler|FollowSite|Foobot|Fooooo_Web_Video_Crawl|Fopper|FormulaFinderBot|Forschungsportal|fr_crawler|Francis|Freecrawl|FreshDownload|freshlinks.exe|FriendFeedBot|frodo.at|froGgle|FrontPage|Froola|FU-NBI|full_breadth_crawler|FunnelBack|FunWebProducts|FurlBot|g00g1e|G10-Bot|Gaisbot|GalaxyBot|gazz|gcreep|generate_infomine_category_classifiers|genevabot|genieBot|GenieBotRD_SmallCrawl|Genieo|Geomaxenginebot|geometabot|GeonaBot|GeoVisu|GermCrawler|GetHTMLContents|Getleft|GetRight|GetSmart|GetURL.rexx|GetWeb!|Giant|GigablastOpenSource|Gigabot|Girafabot|GleameBot|gnome-vfs|Go-Ahead-Got-It|Go!Zilla|GoForIt.com|GOFORITBOT|gold|Golem|GoodJelly|Gordon-College-Google-Mini|goroam|GoSeebot|gotit|Govbot|GPU\ p2p|grab|Grabber|GrabNet|Grafula|grapeFX|grapeshot|GrapeshotCrawler|grbot|GreenYogi\ [ZSEBOT]|Gromit|GroupMe|grub|grub-client|Grubclient-|GrubNG|GruBot|gsa|GSLFbot|GT::WWW|Gulliver|GulperBot|GurujiBot|GVC|GVC\ BUSINESS|gvcbot.com|HappyFunBot|harvest|HarvestMan|Hatena\ Antenna|Hawler|Hazel's\ Ferret\ hopper|hcat|hclsreport-crawler|HD\ nutch\ agent|Header_Test_Client|healia|Helix|heritrix|hijbul-heritrix-crawler|HiScan|HiSoftware\ AccMonitor|HiSoftware\ AccVerify|hitcrawler_|hivaBot|hloader|HMSEbot|HMView|hoge|holmes|HomePageSearch|Hooblybot-Image|HooWWWer|Hostcrawler|HSFT\ -\ Link|HSFT\ -\ LVU|HSlide|ht:|htdig|Html\ Link\ Validator|HTMLParser|HTTP::Lite|httplib|HTTrack|Huaweisymantecspider|hul-wax|humanlinks|HyperEstraier|Hyperix).*quot; />
            <add input="{HTTP_USER_AGENT}" pattern="^.*(ia_archiver|IAArchiver-|ibuena|iCab|ICDS-Ingestion|ichiro|iCopyright\ Conductor|id-search|IDBot|IEAutoDiscovery|IECheck|iHWebChecker|IIITBOT|iim_405|IlseBot|IlTrovatore|Iltrovatore-Setaccio|ImageBot|imagefortress|ImagesHereImagesThereImagesEverywhere|ImageVisu|imds_monitor|imo-google-robot-intelink|IncyWincy|Industry\ Cortexcrawler|Indy\ Library|indylabs_marius|InelaBot|Inet32\ Ctrl|inetbot|InfoLink|INFOMINE|infomine.ucr.edu|InfoNaviRobot|Informant|Infoseek|InfoTekies|InfoUSABot|INGRID|Inktomi|InsightsCollector|InsightsWorksBot|InspireBot|InsumaScout|Intelix|InterGET|Internet\ Ninja|InternetLinkAgent|Interseek|IOI|ip-web-crawler.com|IPAdd|Ipselonbot|Iria|IRLbot|Iron33|Isara|iSearch|iSiloX|IsraeliSearch|IstellaBot|its-learning|IU_CSCI_B659_class_crawler|iVia|iVia\ Page\ Fetcher|JadynAve|JadynAveBot|jakarta|Jakarta\ Commons-HttpClient|Java|Jbot|JemmaTheTourist|JennyBot|Jetbot|JetBrains\ Omea\ Pro|JetCar|Jim|JoBo|JobSpider_BA|JOC|JoeDog|JoyScapeBot|JSpyda|JubiiRobot|jumpstation|Junut|JustView|Jyxobot|K.S.Bot|KakcleBot|kalooga|KaloogaBot|kanagawa|KATATUDO-Spider|Katipo|kbeta1|Kenjin.Spider|KeywenBot|Keyword.Density|Keyword\ Density|kinjabot|KIT-Fireball|Kitenga-crawler-bot|KiwiStatus|kmbot-|kmccrew|Knight|KnowItAll|Knowledge.com|Knowledge\ Engine|KoepaBot|Koninklijke|KrOWLer|KSbot|kuloko-bot|kulturarw3|KummHttp|Kurzor|Kyluka|L.webis|LabelGrab|Labhoo|labourunions411|lachesis|Lament|LamerExterminator|LapozzBot|larbin|LARBIN-EXPERIMENTAL|LBot|LeapTag|LeechFTP|LeechGet|LetsCrawl.com|LexiBot|LexxeBot|lftp|libcrawl|libiViaCore|libWeb|libwww|libwww-perl|likse|Linguee|Link|link_checker|LinkAlarm|linkbot|LinkCheck\ by\ Siteimprove.com|LinkChecker|linkdex.com|LinkextractorPro|LinkLint|linklooker|Linkman|LinkScan|LinksCrawler|LinksManager.com_bot|LinkSweeper|linkwalker|LiteFinder|LitlrBot|Little\ Grabber\ at\ Skanktale.com|Livelapbot|LM\ Harvester|LMQueueBot|LNSpiderguy|LoadTimeBot|LocalcomBot|locust|LolongBot|LookBot|Lsearch|lssbot|LWP|lwp-request|lwp-trivial|LWP::Simple|Lycos_Spider|Lydia\ Entity|LynnBot|Lytranslate|Mag-Net|Magnet|magpie-crawler|Magus|Mail.Ru|Mail.Ru_Bot|MAINSEEK_BOT|Mammoth|MarkWatch|MaSagool|masidani_bot_|Mass|Mata.Hari|Mata\ Hari|matentzn\ at\ cs\ dot\ man\ dot\ ac\ dot\ uk|maxamine.com--robot|maxamine.com-robot|maxomobot|Maxthon$|McBot|MediaFox|medrabbit|Megite|MemacBot|Memo|MendeleyBot|Mercator-|mercuryboard_user_agent_sql_injection.nasl|MerzScope|metacarta|Metager2|metager2-verification-bot|MetaGloss|METAGOPHER|metal|metaquerier.cs.uiuc.edu|METASpider|Metaspinner|MetaURI|MetaURI\ API|MFC_Tear_Sample|MFcrawler|MFHttpScan|Microsoft.URL|MIIxpc|miner|mini-robot|minibot|miniRank|Mirror|Missigua\ Locator|Mister.PiX|Mister\ PiX|Miva|MJ12bot|mnoGoSearch|mod_accessibility|moduna.com|moget|MojeekBot|MOMspider|MonkeyCrawl|MOSES|Motor|mowserbot|MQbot|MSE360|MSFrontPage|MSIECrawler|MSIndianWebcrawl|MSMOBOT|Msnbot|msnbot-products|MSNPTC|MSRBOT|MT-Soft|MultiText|My_Little_SearchEngine_Project|my-heritrix-crawler|MyApp|MYCOMPANYBOT|mycrawler|MyEngines-US-Bot|MyFamilyBot|Myra|nabot|nabot_|Najdi.si|Nambu|NAMEPROTECT|NatchCVS|naver|naverbookmarkcrawler|NaverBot|Navroad|NearSite|NEC-MeshExplorer|NeoScioCrawler|NerdByNature.Bot|NerdyBot|Nerima-crawl-).*quot; />
            <add input="{HTTP_USER_AGENT}" pattern="^.*(Nessus|NESSUS::SOAP|nestReader|Net::Trackback|NetAnts|NetCarta\ CyberPilot\ Pro|Netcraft|NetID.com|NetMechanic|Netprospector|NetResearchServer|NetScoop|NetSeer|NetShift=|NetSongBot|Netsparker|NetSpider|NetSrcherP|NetZip|NetZip-Downloader|NewMedhunt|news|News_Search_App|NewsGatherer|Newsgroupreporter|NewsTroveBot|NextGenSearchBot|nextthing.org|NG|NHSEWalker|nicebot|NICErsPRO|niki-bot|NimbleCrawler|nimbus-1|ninetowns|Ninja|NjuiceBot|NLese|Nogate|Nomad-V2.x|NoteworthyBot|NPbot|NPBot-|NRCan\ intranet|NSDL_Search_Bot|nu_tch-princeton|nuggetize.com|nutch|nutch1|NutchCVS|NutchOrg|NWSpider|Nymesis|nys-crawler|ObjectsSearch|oBot|Obvius\ external\ linkcheck|Occam|Ocelli|Octopus|ODP\ entries|Offline.Explorer|Offline\ Explorer|Offline\ Navigator|OGspider|OmiExplorer_Bot|OmniExplorer_Bot|omnifind|OmniWeb|OnetSzukaj|online\ link\ validator|OOZBOT|Openbot|Openfind|Openfind\ data|OpenHoseBot|OpenIntelligenceData|OpenISearch|OpenSearchServer_Bot|OpiDig|optidiscover|OrangeBot|ORISBot|ornl_crawler_1|ORNL_Mercury|osis-project.jp|OsO|OutfoxBot|OutfoxMelonBot|OWLER-BOT|owsBot|ozelot|P3P\ Client|page_verifier|PageBitesHyperBot|Pagebull|PageDown|PageFetcher|PageGrabber|PagePeeker|PageRank\ Monitor|pamsnbot.htm|Panopy|panscient.com|Pansophica|Papa\ Foto|PaperLiBot|parasite|parsijoo|Pathtraq|Pattern|Patwebbot|pavuk|PaxleFramework|PBBOT|pcBrowser|pd-crawler|PECL::HTTP|penthesila|PeoplePal|perform_crawl|PerMan|PGP-KA|PHPCrawl|PhpDig|PicoSearch|pipBot|pipeLiner|Pita|pixfinder|PiyushBot|planetwork|PleaseCrawl|Plucker|Plukkie|Plumtree|Pockey|Pockey-GetHTML|PoCoHTTP|pogodak.ba|Pogodak.co.yu|Poirot|polybot|Pompos|Poodle\ predictor|PopScreenBot|PostPost|PrivacyFinder|ProjectWF-java-test-crawler|ProPowerBot|ProWebWalker|PROXY|psbot|psbot-page|PSS-Bot|psycheclone|pub-crawler|pucl|pulseBot\ \(pulse|Pump|purebot|PWeBot|pycurl|Python-urllib|pythonic-crawler|PythonWikipediaBot|q1|QEAVis\ agent|QFKBot|qualidade|Qualidator.com|QuepasaCreep|QueryN.Metasearch|QueryN\ Metasearch|quest.durato|Quintura-Crw|QunarBot|Qweery_robot.txt_CheckBot|QweeryBot|r2iBot|R6_CommentReader|R6_FeedFetcher|R6_VoteReader|RaBot|Radian6|radian6_linkcheck|RAMPyBot|RankurBot|RcStartBot|RealDownload|Reaper|REBI-shoveler|Recorder|RedBot|RedCarpet|ReGet|RepoMonkey|RepoMonkey\ Bait|Riddler|RIIGHTBOT|RiseNetBot|RiverglassScanner|RMA|RoboPal|Robosourcer|robot|robotek|robots|Robozilla|rogerBot|Rome\ Client|Rondello|Rotondo|Roverbot|RPT-HTTPClient|rtgibot|RufusBot|Runnk\ online\ rss\ reader|s~stremor-crawler|S2Bot|SafariBookmarkChecker|SaladSpoon|Sapienti|SBIder|SBL-BOT|SCFCrawler|Scich|ScientificCommons.org|ScollSpider|ScooperBot|Scooter|ScoutJet|ScrapeBox|Scrapy|SCrawlTest|Scrubby|scSpider|Scumbot|SeaMonkey$|Search-Channel|Search-Engine-Studio|search.KumKie.com|search.msn.com|search.updated.com|search.usgs.gov|Search\ Publisher|Searcharoo.NET|SearchBlox|searchbot|searchengine|searchhippo.com|SearchIt-Bot|searchmarking|searchmarks|searchmee_v|SearchmetricsBot|searchmining|SearchnowBot_v1|searchpreview|SearchSpider.com|SearQuBot|Seekbot|Seeker.lookseek.com|SeeqBot|seeqpod-vertical-crawler|Selflinkchecker|Semager|semanticdiscovery|Semantifire1|semisearch|SemrushBot|Senrigan|SEOENGWorldBot|SeznamBot|ShablastBot|ShadowWebAnalyzer|Shareaza|Shelob|sherlock|ShopWiki|ShowLinks|ShowyouBot|siclab|silk|Siphon|SiteArchive|SiteCheck-sitecrawl|sitecheck.internetseer.com|SiteFinder|SiteGuardBot|SiteOrbiter|SiteSnagger|SiteSucker|SiteSweeper|SiteXpert|SkimBot|SkimWordsBot|SkreemRBot|skygrid|Skywalker|Sleipnir|slow-crawler|SlySearch|smart-crawler|SmartDownload|Smarte|smartwit.com|Snake|Snapbot|SnapPreviewBot|Snappy|snookit|Snooper|Snoopy|SocialSearcher|SocSciBot|SOFT411\ Directory|sogou|sohu-search|sohu\ agent|Sokitomi|Solbot|sootle|Sosospider|Space\ Bison|Space\ Fung|SpaceBison|SpankBot|spanner|Spatineo\ Monitor\ Controller|special_archiver|SpeedySpider|Sphider|Sphider2|spider|Spider.TerraNautic.net|SpiderEngine|SpiderKU|SpiderMan|Spinn3r|Spinne|sportcrew-Bot|spyder3.microsys.com|sqlmap|Squid-Prefetch|SquidClamAV_Redirector|Sqworm|SrevBot|sslbot|SSM\ Agent|StackRambler|StarDownloader|statbot|statcrawler|statedept-crawler|Steeler|STEGMANN-Bot|stero|Stripper|Stumbler|suchclip|sucker|SumeetBot|SumitBot|SummizeBot|SummizeFeedReader|SuperBot|superbot.com|SuperHTTP|SuperLumin|SuperPagesBot|Supybot|SURF|Surfbot|SurfControl|SurveyBot|suzuran|SWEBot|swish-e|SygolBot|SynapticWalker|Syntryx\ ANT\ Scout\ Chassis\ Pheromone|SystemSearch-robot|Szukacz).*quot; />
            <add input="{HTTP_USER_AGENT}" pattern="^.*(T-H-U-N-D-E-R-S-T-O-N-E|Tailrank|tAkeOut|TAMU_CRAWLER|TapuzBot|Tarantula|targetblaster.com|TargetYourNews.com|TAUSDataBot|taxinomiabot|Tecomi|TeezirBot|Teleport|Teleport\ Pro|TeleportPro|Telesoft|Teradex\ Mapper|TERAGRAM_CRAWLER|TerrawizBot|testbot|testing\ of|TextBot|thatrobotsite.com|The.Intraformant|The\ Dyslexalizer|The\ Intraformant|TheNomad|Theophrastus|theusefulbot|TheUsefulbot_|ThumbBot|thumbshots-de-bot|tigerbot|TightTwatBot|TinEye|Titan|to-dress_ru_bot_|to-night-Bot|toCrawl|Topicalizer|topicblogs|Toplistbot|TopServer\ PHP|topyx-crawler|Touche|TourlentaScanner|TPSystem|TRAAZI|TranSGeniKBot|travel-search|TravelBot|TravelLazerBot|Treezy|TREX|TridentSpider|Trovator|True_Robot|tScholarsBot|TsWebBot|TulipChain|turingos|turnit|TurnitinBot|TutorGigBot|TweetedTimes|TweetmemeBot|TwengaBot|TwengaBot-Discover|Twiceler|Twikle|twinuffbot|Twisted\ PageGetter|Twitturls|Twitturly|TygoBot|TygoProwler|Typhoeus|U.S.\ Government\ Printing\ Office|uberbot|ucb-nutch|UCSD-Crawler|UdmSearch|UFAM-crawler-|Ultraseek|UnChaos|unchaos_crawler_|UnisterBot|UniversalSearch|UnwindFetchor|UofTDB_experiment|updated|URI::Fetch|url_gather|URL-Checker|URL\ Control|URLAppendBot|URLBlaze|urlchecker|urlck|UrlDispatcher|urllib|URLSpiderPro|URLy.Warning|USAF\ AFKN\|usasearch|USS-Cosmix|USyd-NLP-Spider|Vacobot|Vacuum|VadixBot|Vagabondo|Validator|Valkyrie|vBSEO|VCI|VerbstarBot|VeriCiteCrawler|Verifactrola|Verity-URL-Gateway|vermut|versus|versus.integis.ch|viasarchivinginformation.html|vikspider|VIP|VIPr|virus-detector|VisBot|Vishal\ For\ CLIA|VisWeb|vlad|vlsearch|VMBot|VocusBot|VoidEYE|VoilaBot|Vortex|voyager|voyager-hc|voyager-partner-deep|VSE|vspider).*quot; />
            <add input="{HTTP_USER_AGENT}" pattern="^.*(W3C_Unicorn|W3C-WebCon|w3m|w3search|wacbot|wastrix|Water\ Conserve|Water\ Conserve\ Portal|WatzBot|wauuu\ engine|Wavefire|Waypath|Wazzup|Wazzup1.0.4800|wbdbot|web-agent|Web-Sniffer|Web.Image.Collector|Web\ CEO\ Online|Web\ Image\ Collector|Web\ Link\ Validator|Web\ Magnet|webalta|WebaltBot|WebAuto|webbandit|webbot|webbul-bot|WebCapture|webcheck|Webclipping.com|webcollage|WebCopier|WebCopy|WebCorp|webcrawl.net|webcrawler|WebDownloader\ for|Webdup|WebEMailExtrac|WebEMailExtrac.*|WebEnhancer|WebFerret|webfetch|WebFetcher|WebGather|WebGo\ IS|webGobbler|WebImages|Webinator-search2.fasthealth.com|Webinator-WBI|WebIndex|WebIndexer|weblayers|WebLeacher|WeblexBot|WebLinker|webLyzard|WebmasterCoffee|WebmasterWorld|WebmasterWorldForumBot|WebMiner|WebMoose|WeBot|WebPix|WebReaper|WebRipper|WebSauger|Webscan|websearchbench|WebSite|websitemirror|WebSpear|websphinx.test|WebSpider|Webster|Webster.Pro|Webster\ Pro|WebStripper|WebTrafficExpress|WebTrends\ Link\ Analyzer|webvac|webwalk|WebWalker|Webwasher|WebWatch|WebWhacker|WebXM|WebZip|Weddings.info|wenbin|WEPA|WeRelateBot|Whacker|Widow|WikiaBot|Wikio|wikiwix-bot-|WinHttp.WinHttpRequest|WinHTTP\ Example|WIRE|wired-digital-newsbot|WISEbot|WISENutbot|wish-la|wish-project|wisponbot|WMCAI-robot|wminer|WMSBot|woriobot|worldshop|WorQmada|Wotbox|WPScan|wume_crawler|WWW-Mechanize|www.freeloader.com.|WWW\ Collector|WWWOFFLE|wwwrobot|wwwster|WWWWanderer|wwwxref|Wysigot|X-clawler|Xaldon|Xenu|Xenu's|Xerka\ MetaBot|XGET|xirq|XmarksFetch|XoviBot|xqrobot|Y!J|Y!TunnelPro|yacy.net|yacybot|yarienavoir.net|Yasaklibot|yBot|YebolBot|yellowJacket|yes|YesupBot|Yeti|YioopBot|YisouSpider|yolinkBot|yoogliFetchAgent|yoono|Yoriwa|YottaCars_Bot|you-dir|Z-Add\ Link|zagrebin|Zao|zedzo.digest|zedzo.validate|zermelo|Zeus|Zeus\ Link\ Scout|zibber-v|zimeno|Zing-BottaBot|ZipppBot|zmeu|ZoomSpider|ZuiBot|ZumBot|Zyborg|Zyte).*quot; />
          </conditions>
          <action type="CustomResponse" statusCode="403" statusReason="Forbidden" statusDescription="Forbidden" />
        </rule>
      </rules>
    </rewrite>

    <security>
      <!-- To block IP addresses, see example format below. Add to list as needed: -->
      <ipSecurity>
        <add ipAddress="203.0.113.15" allowed="false" />
      </ipSecurity>

      <!-- Deny URL requests to files with .log extension, like debug.log -->
      <requestFiltering>
        <denyUrlSequences>
          <add sequence=".log" />
        </denyUrlSequences>
        
        <!--
          # Block query string sequences. The following example blocks a URL 
          # containing a query string "?foobar=revslider". Only use these rules if
          # you're familiar with the exact query string used.
          # 
          # This one was not in HackRepair.com's .htaccess
        -->
        <denyQueryStringSequences>
          <add sequence="foobar=revslider" />
        </denyQueryStringSequences>

      </requestFiltering>
    
    </security>
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>

My WordPress web.config on IIS

Not so long ago, I posted my WordPress web.config - that I have currently in use. It offers a lot of same functionality, therefore you'd best combine both web.config files into one.

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13 Comments

    • Hi Peter,
      I think that you need to use MatchAny in your condition tag if you use more than one HTTP_USER_AGENT line as input.

  1. Hi, would it be possible to only allow the bots you want EX googlebot, bingbot, etc
    then all others would be disallowed?

    • Hi Mary,
      When working with user agents (the name of browsers), it is very hard to allow just a few and block all others. You’d have to know the user agent strings you want to allow, including yours and those of your visitors. Otherwise you and them can’t visit your site. Here is a list that’s probably not complete: https://deviceatlas.com/blog/list-of-user-agent-strings.

      The web.config syntax would be something in the lines of (untested):

      
      <rule name="Allow these User Agents" stopProcessing="true">
      	<!--
      	# Allow only these user agents to your web site
      	-->
      	<match url=".*" ignoreCase="true" />
      	<conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAny">
      		<add input="{HTTP_USER_AGENT}" pattern="^.*(googlebot|bingbot|firefox|chrome|msie|edge|opr|opera).*$" negate="true" />
      	</conditions>
      	<action type="CustomResponse" statusCode="403" statusReason="Forbidden" statusDescription="Forbidden" />
      </rule>
      

      The negate="true" makes this rule so that all not matching user agent strings are blocked.

  2. Ivan

    Hi,

    nice work, thank you very much for sharing this.

    I was just wondering, is there any special reason for the multiple input tags, or is it just for better readability ?

    Well, for me “oBot” and “robot” blocked “uptimerobot” ( a free monitoring tool ).

    So I thought instead of just removing those, I could change the condition to MatchAll, white list “uptimerobot” in one input with negate=”true” and black list everything else in second input….

    Regards

    Ivan

    • Hi Ivan, thank you for your reaction! The multiple input tags are for readability. You can easily whitelist uptimerobot‘s user agent the way you describe:

      
      <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAll">
        <add input="{HTTP_USER_AGENT}" pattern="uptimerobot" negate="true" />
        <add input="{HTTP_USER_AGENT}" pattern="bad_bots|toblock|..." />
      </conditions>

      I haven’t tested this but it shouldn’t give a problem.

  3. Carlo

    But do you think that the blocks at bingbot and others are due to the error ?

  4. carlo

    Hi Jan,
    two question:

    1) thats are blocked. Are bad spider ?
    5.90.205.132 Mozilla/5.0+(Linux;+Android+5.0.1;+SAMSUNG+GT-I9515+Build/LRX22C)+AppleWebKit/537.36+(KHTML,+like+Gecko)+SamsungBrowser/4.0+Chrome/44.0.2403.133+Mobile+Safari/537.36 403 0 0 9
    or
    5.90.234.18 Mozilla/5.0+(Linux;+Android+4.4.4;+Vodafone+890N+Build/KTU84P)+AppleWebKit/537.36+(KHTML,+like+Gecko)+Chrome/50.0.2661.89+Mobile+Safari/537.36 403 0 0 24
    or
    151.37.23.207 Mozilla/5.0+(Mobile;+Windows+Phone+8.1;+Android+4.0;+ARM;+Trident/7.0;+Touch;+rv:11.0;+IEMobile/11.0;+NOKIA;+Lumia+635;+Vodafone)+like+iPhone+OS+7_0_3+Mac+OS+X+AppleWebKit/537+(KHTML,+like+Gecko)+Mobile+Safari/537 403 0 0 71

    2) thats are blocked. msnbot or bingbot are bad bot?
    157.55.39.224 Mozilla/5.0+(compatible;+bingbot/2.0;++http://www.bing.com/bingbot.htm) 403 0 0 181

    u can correct the rules for IIS ?
    Can send me for email that correction ?
    thanks

    • Hi Carlo, thank you for your questions.

      1. I cannot find a common identifier -in this post- as to why the IP addresses 5.90.205.132, 5.90.234.18 and 151.37.23.207 got blocked. Maybe they triggered not an USER_AGENT match but a Query String (to revslider for example).

      2. the web.confg code is provided AS-IS, and is an one-on-one translation of HackRepair.com’s .htaccess bad bots. The user-agent string Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; bingbot/2.0; +http://www.bing.com/bingbot.htm) does belong to MSN bot, and is in HackRepair.com’s (and thus this) list. You can safely remove it, do a text search in your web.config for Msnbot and remove the occurrences.

      Please note that a solution or piece of code never works in all thinkable situations, code is always posted “AS-IS”, and always test in non-production environments.

      • carlo

        hi Jan,
        i removed from the rules msnbot but nothing. Its blocked as bingbot (not found bingbot in the rules and cant remove it to resolve)
        i removed all from the rule Query String (with revslider or as your example) but nothing
        5.169.131.131 Mozilla/5.0+(Linux;+Android+5.0.1;+SAMSUNG+GT-I9505+Build/LRX22C)+AppleWebKit/537.36+(KHTML,+like+Gecko)+SamsungBrowser/4.0+Chrome/44.0.2403.133+Mobile+Safari/537.36 403 0 0 24
        5.169.131.131 Mozilla/5.0+(Linux;+Android+5.0.1;+SAMSUNG+GT-I9505+Build/LRX22C)+AppleWebKit/537.36+(KHTML,+like+Gecko)+SamsungBrowser/4.0+Chrome/44.0.2403.133+Mobile+Safari/537.36 403 0 0 23

        maybe the problem is to copy your code from the page to encoding issues .
        In fact I found a character incorrectly and the server gave me error.
        I deleted that character and the rule works but with the symptoms above .
        ( Maybe there is some other incorrect character and sends confusing the rule ? )
        You can send it via email to a test.
        Thank you

        • Hi Carlo,

          You’re correct. On line 39, next to “CoolBott” there is a non-ascii character. I’ve updated the post and removed the non-ascii character.

          I found it using grep (for anyone interested):

          grep --color='auto' -P -n "[\x80-\xFF]" web.config
          grep --color='auto' -P -n '[^\x00-\x7F]' web.config

          This will give you the line number, and will highlight non-ascii characters in red (from Stack Overflow).

  5. Hi –

    I found that the IPAdd user agent blocks iPads and iPhones. You may wish to remove it.

    Thanks,
    Neal

    • Hi Neal, thank you for your comment!

      The 4.53.120.22 was somewhere in my blacklist (for as far as I can remember assigned to Websense and used as a annoying bot). Currently the IP address is assigned to Level 3 Communications, and may be used for Wi-Fi or other wireless network systems. You’re free to remove or change the line.

      I’ve replaced 4.53.120.22 with 203.0.113.15, which is in a reserved testing block.

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