Below is a useful code block for blocking a lot of the known bad bots and site rippers currently out there.
You might also check out the following .htaccess rules to Harden your website’s Security even further.
Simply add the code to your /public_html/.htaccess file:
# Bad bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^abot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^aipbot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^asterias" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^EI" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^libwww-perl" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^LWP" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^lwp" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^MSIECrawler" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^nameprotect" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^PlantyNet_WebRobot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^UCmore" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Alligator" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "AllSubmitter" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Anonymous" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Asterias" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "autoemailspider" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Badass" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Baiduspider" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "BecomeBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Bitacle" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "bladder\ fusion" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Blogshares\ Spiders" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Board\ Bot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Board\ Bot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Convera" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "ConveraMultiMediaCrawler" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "c-spider" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "DA" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "DnloadMage" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Download\ Demon" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Download\ Express" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Download\ Wonder" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "dragonfly" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "DreamPassport" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "DSurf" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "DTS Agent" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "EBrowse" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "eCatch" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "edgeio" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Email\ Extractor" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "EmailSiphon" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "EmailWolf" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "EmeraldShield" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "ESurf" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Exabot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "ExtractorPro" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "FileHeap!\ file downloader" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "FileHound" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Forex" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Franklin\ Locator" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "FreshDownload" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "FrontPage" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "FSurf" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Gaisbot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Gamespy_Arcade" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "genieBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "GetBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "GetRight" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Gigabot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Go!Zilla" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Go-Ahead-Got-It" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "GOFORITBOT" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "heritrix" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "HLoader" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "HooWWWer" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "HTTrack" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "iCCrawler" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "ichiro" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "iGetter" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "imds_monitor" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Industry\ Program" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Indy\ Library" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "InetURL" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "InstallShield\ DigitalWizard" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "IRLbot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "IUPUI\ Research\ Bot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Java" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "jeteye" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "jeteyebot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "JoBo" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "JOC\ Web\ Spider" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Kapere" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Larbin" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "LeechGet" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "LightningDownload" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Linkie" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Mac\ Finder" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Mail\ Sweeper" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Mass\ Downloader" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "MetaProducts\ Download\ Express" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Microsoft\ Data\ Access" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Microsoft\ URL\ Control" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Missauga\ Locate" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Missauga\ Locator" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Missigua Locator" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Missouri\ College\ Browse" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Mister\ PiX" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "MovableType" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Mozi!" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Mozilla/3.0 (compatible)" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0)" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "MSIE_6.0" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "MSIECrawler" badbot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "MVAClient" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "MyFamilyBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "MyGetRight" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "NASA\ Search" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Naver" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "NaverBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "NetAnts" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "NetResearchServer" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "NEWT\ ActiveX" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Nextopia" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "NICErsPRO" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "NimbleCrawler" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Nitro\ Downloader" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Nutch" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Offline\ Explorer" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "OmniExplorer" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "OutfoxBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "P3P" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "PagmIEDownload" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "pavuk" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "PHP\ version" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "playstarmusic" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Program\ Shareware" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Progressive Download" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "psycheclone" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "puf" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "PussyCat" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "PuxaRapido" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Python-urllib" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "RealDownload" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "RedKernel" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "relevantnoise" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "RepoMonkey\ Bait\ &\ Tackle" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "RTG30" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "SBIder" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "script" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Seekbot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "SiteSnagger" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "SmartDownload" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "sna-" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Snap\ bot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "SpeedDownload" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Sphere" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "sproose" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "SQ\ Webscanner" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Stamina" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Star\ Downloader" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Teleport" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "TurnitinBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "UdmSearch" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "URLGetFile" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "User-Agent" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "UtilMind\ HTTPGet" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "WebAuto" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "WebCapture" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "webcollage" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "WebCopier" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "WebFilter" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "WebReaper" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Website\ eXtractor" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "WebStripper" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "WebZIP" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Wells\ Search" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "WEP\ Search\ 00" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Wget" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Wildsoft\ Surfer" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "WinHttpRequest" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "WWWOFFLE" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Xaldon\ WebSpider" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Y!TunnelPro" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "YahooYSMcm" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Zade" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "ZBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "zerxbot" bad_bot
# Apache < 2.4
<IfModule !mod_authz_core.c>
<Limit GET POST>
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
Deny from env=bad_bot
</Limit>
</IfModule>
# Apache >= 2.4
<IfModule mod_authz_core.c>
<Limit GET POST>
<RequireAll>
Require all granted
Require not env bad_bot
</RequireAll>
</Limit>
</IfModule>
