Iocaine is a defense mechanism against unwanted scrapers, sitting between upstream resources and the fronting reverse proxy. It is designed to significantly reduce the load caused by the relentless attack of the Crawlers (mostly originating from various AI companies) in a way that does not place undue burden on legit visitors. While iocaine does support presenting a proof-of-work challenge, that should be a last resort, and even if that path is taken, the challenge is inexpensive for the human visitor.
Originally, iocaine started as a garbage generator, a tarpit, a place where the reverse proxy routed unwanted visitors, so that they’d crawl an infinite maze of garbage. Since then, it grew into a more ambitious project, and includes a scripting engine that lets the iocaine-operator tell the software how to treat each incoming request. The idea remained similar, however: to waste crawler resources, while keeping costs down.
Unlike some similar tools, iocaine does not try to make the bad bots go away, it welcomes them, into an infinite maze of garbage. It does so, because the author observed that if the bots keep being served plausibly legit looking content, they will behave slightly better: they will not try to disguise themselves as much, and they’ll keep a steady, but not overwhelming crawling pace. Serving unwanted visitors junk also evoked warm, fuzzy feelings inside the author. He likes warm, fuzzy feelings. The garbage generator used in iocane has been tuned with this in mind, to make it cheap, pretty much on par with serving a static file.
This is free and open source software.
Website: git.madhouse-project.org/iocaine/iocaine
Support:
Developer: Gergely Nagy
License: MIT License
Iocaine is written in Rust. Learn Rust with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
| Popular series | |
|---|---|
 | The largest compilation of the best free and open source software in the universe. Each article is supplied with a legendary ratings chart helping you to make informed decisions. |
 | Hundreds of in-depth reviews offering our unbiased and expert opinion on software. We offer helpful and impartial information. |
 | The Big List of Active Linux Distros is a large compilation of actively developed Linux distributions. |
 | Replace proprietary software with open source alternatives: Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Autodesk, Oracle, Atlassian, Corel, Cisco, Intuit, SAS, Progress, Salesforce, and Citrix |
 | Awesome Free Linux Games Tools showcases a series of tools that making gaming on Linux a more pleasurable experience. This is a new series. |
 | Machine Learning explores practical applications of machine learning and deep learning from a Linux perspective. We've written reviews of more than 40 self-hosted apps. All are free and open source. |
 | New to Linux? Read our Linux for Starters series. We start right at the basics and teach you everything you need to know to get started with Linux. |
 | Alternatives to popular CLI tools showcases essential tools that are modern replacements for core Linux utilities. |
 | Essential Linux system tools focuses on small, indispensable utilities, useful for system administrators as well as regular users. |
 | Linux utilities to maximise your productivity. Small, indispensable tools, useful for anyone running a Linux machine. |
 | Surveys popular streaming services from a Linux perspective: Amazon Music Unlimited, Myuzi, Spotify, Deezer, Tidal. |
 | Saving Money with Linux looks at how you can reduce your energy bills running Linux. |
 | Home computers became commonplace in the 1980s. Emulate home computers including the Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, ZX81, Amstrad CPC, and ZX Spectrum. |
 | Now and Then examines how promising open source software fared over the years. It can be a bumpy ride. |
 | Linux at Home looks at a range of home activities where Linux can play its part, making the most of our time at home, keeping active and engaged. |
 | Linux Candy reveals the lighter side of Linux. Have some fun and escape from the daily drudgery. |
 | Getting Started with Docker helps you master Docker, a set of platform as a service products that delivers software in packages called containers. |
 | Best Free Android Apps. We showcase free Android apps that are definitely worth downloading. There's a strict eligibility criteria for inclusion in this series. |
 | These best free books accelerate your learning of every programming language. Learn a new language today! |
 | These free tutorials offer the perfect tonic to our free programming books series. |
 | Linux Around The World showcases usergroups that are relevant to Linux enthusiasts. Great ways to meet up with fellow enthusiasts. |
 | Stars and Stripes is an occasional series looking at the impact of Linux in the USA. |