Title: Partial blocking not available … ?
Last modified: August 22, 2016

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# Partial blocking not available … ?

 *  [Hans Meiser](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hans-meiser/)
 * (@hans-meiser)
 * [11 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/partial-blocking-not-available/)
 * So, after installing Wordfence and immediatly getting 15 login attempts per hour,
   I now ask, why blocking actions are so limited.
 * When I get something like
 *     ```
       A user with IP address 78.6.7.86 has been locked out from the signing in or using the password recovery form for the following reason: Used an invalid username 'admin' to try to sign in.
       User IP: 78.6.7.86
       User hostname: 78-6-7-86-static.albacom.net
       ```
   
 * and this about ten different times, where only after the 78.6. is changing, I
   ask myself:
    Why can’t I block by hostname -> *static.albacom.net Why can’t I
   block partial IP -> 78.6.*
 * This would make much more sense then using strict defined rules.
    Any suggestions?
 * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/)

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

 *  [WFBrian](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfbrian/)
 * (@wfbrian)
 * [11 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/partial-blocking-not-available/#post-5680385)
 * Blocking by using wildcard on a domain could cause legitimate users to not be
   able to visit a site. Also, most IP addresses are dynamic on the internet so 
   permanently blocking an IP can also cause a legitimate user issues too.
 * Thanks,
    Brian
 *  Thread Starter [Hans Meiser](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hans-meiser/)
 * (@hans-meiser)
 * [11 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/partial-blocking-not-available/#post-5680394)
 * > Blocking by using wildcard on a domain could cause legitimate users to not 
   > be able to visit a site.
 * I’m aware of that and decided that I can live with that “risk”, so?
 * > Also, most IP addresses are dynamic on the internet so permanently blocking
   > an IP can also cause a legitimate user issues too.
 * And it don’t have to be permanently. There should be an option to make it temporary(
   with fixed and free settings) or permanently.
 * Sorry, but I don’t see what you want to raise up.
    Wordfence already can block
   IP ranges, I just like to use i.e. 85.18.* instead of typing 85.18.0.0 – 85.18.255.255.
   And beside that, it would like to block out hostnames like i.e. *.fastwebnet.
   it.
 * So again, can you implement that possibility?
    Thanks in advance.
 *  [shrewdies](https://wordpress.org/support/users/shrewdies/)
 * (@shrewdies)
 * [11 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/partial-blocking-not-available/#post-5680399)
 * Hans, I use Wordfence in conjunction with CloudFlare. Wordfence identifies bad
   IPs then I add them to CloudFlare which blocks them at source from every website
   in my network. CloudFlare allows ranges of IPs to be blocked, and I often invoke
   this if I see several bad IPs in the same range. Unfortunately, it does not allow
   blocking by hostname, but it is usually quite easy to identify all IP ranges 
   for a hostname, then block these ranges. Even better is the country blocking 
   feature in CloudFlare. That does not block the country completely, but it does
   present a Captcha screen that blocks most spammers, and allows you to whitelist
   acceptable individual addresses.
 * There is another plugin that automatically adds Wordfence blocked IP addresses
   to CloudFlare, but I prefer to do this manually so I can be happy I’m not blocking
   genuine traffic.
 * If you do use CloudFlare, be sure to add the CloudFlare plugin to WordPress.
 *  [WFBrian](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfbrian/)
 * (@wfbrian)
 * [11 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/partial-blocking-not-available/#post-5680401)
 * [@hans](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hans/) I’ll pass your suggestions
   on to the development team.
 *  Thread Starter [Hans Meiser](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hans-meiser/)
 * (@hans-meiser)
 * [11 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/partial-blocking-not-available/#post-5680431)
 * [@keith](https://wordpress.org/support/users/keith/)
    Thanks for your suggestions.
   I try to use as few plugins as possible for security for a better control.
 * [@wfbrian](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfbrian/)
    Thanks, I’m looking
   forward to it.

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

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## Tags

 * [hostname](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/hostname/)
 * [IP](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/ip/)

 * 5 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [Hans Meiser](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hans-meiser/)
 * Last activity: [11 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/partial-blocking-not-available/#post-5680431)
 * Status: not resolved