WordPress Security How To
WordPress Security How To

How to stop bots and robots with a list of prohibited logins

WP Cerber uses the list of prohibited WordPress usernames to reinforce protection by filtering out bots and hackers


As you already know, there is a small but powerful feature called a list of prohibited logins/usernames. This is a comma-separated list of usernames you do not want to be used on your website in any circumstances. That’s it? Nope, there is no “just in case” features in the WP Cerber Security plugin. But how does Cerber use logins from the list to reinforce protection? First of all, the plugin does the following.

  • An attempt to log in using a prohibited username or a username that matches REGEX pattern is denied and the IP address gets blocked
  • An attempt to register using a prohibited username or a username that matches REGEX pattern is not permitted

Most importantly, using the list of prohibited logins along with the Custom login URL helps the plugin being smart and detects bots/robots/hackers more effectively.

What if you put a username of an existing WordPress user on the list? It has the same effect as if you block that user but in a bit more rough way.

If your list is still empty, you definitely have to put on that list the following (commonly used by bots and hackers) usernames: admin, administrator, manager, editor, user, demo, test.

Since v. 5.8.6 you can use regular expressions (REGEX) in the list of prohibited usernames. Specify as many patterns as you need. To specify a REGEX pattern wrap a pattern in two forward slashes like /admin.*/. All comparisons are case-insensitive.

Read more how to create another trap with a Custom login URL.

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I'm a software engineer and team lead at Cerber Tech. I started coding in 1993 on IBM System/370 and today software engineering at Cerber Tech is how I make my living.

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