Fail2Ban

Business Profile

Core Value Proposition

Fail2Ban provides a daemon to ban hosts that cause multiple authentication errors by monitoring log files and updating firewall rules to reject offending IPs.

Target Customer

{"System administrators","IT security professionals","DevOps / operations teams managing Linux servers"}

Key Differentiator

Open-source GPL project with out-of-the-box support for multiple standard log files, configurable to read any log file, IPv6 support since v0.10, and community-driven development.

Implementation Timeline

Not specified in the provided content

Pain Points

1Brute-force and repeated failed authentication attempts on services (e.g., SSH, web servers)
2Need for automated mitigation to reduce risk without manual intervention
3Managing and enforcing temporary bans across dynamic IPs and diverse log sources

Key Features

1Monitors log files (e.g., /var/log/auth.log) for failed authentication attempts
2Bans IP addresses conducting too many failed login attempts
3Updates system firewall rules to reject new connections from offending IPs
4Out-of-the-box support for common log files (sshd, Apache) and configurable to read other logs
5IPv6 support (since v0.10)

Target Customer Industries

Client Results

1Reduces the rate of incorrect authentication attempts by automating IP bans
2Provides automated protection against brute-force login attempts on Linux-based services

Competitive Advantages

1Open-source with permissive GPL licensing
2Automates defense by banning offending hosts via firewall rules
3Flexible log-file compatibility and easy configuration for various log sources
4IPv6 support and ongoing community development
5Readily installable from package distributions or source

Key Benefits

1Automated mitigation of brute-force attacks

2Support for multiple standard log files and easy extensibility to custom logs

3IPv6 compatible since version 0.10

4Open-source licensing with community-driven improvements

5Integration with existing firewall rules for immediate enforcement

Additional Product Information

Product Description

Fail2Ban is a daemon that scans log files for failed authentication attempts and bans offending IPs by updating firewall rules, thereby mitigating brute-force attacks on services like SSH and Apache.

Target Market

Organizations and IT teams running Linux servers that need automated protection against repeated authentication failures and brute-force attempts.

Unique Value Proposition

Open-source, highly configurable, and capable of reading diverse log formats with IPv6 support, providing automated IP banning to harden services without heavy manual intervention.

Technical Requirements

Required: Python >= 3.5 or PyPy3, python-setuptools (or python3-setuptools) for installation from source. Optional: pyinotify >= 0.8.3; may require: Linux >= 2.6.13, systemd >= 204 and python bindings: python-systemd, dnspython, pyasyncore and pyasynchat (for Python 3.12+). Installation options include: tar xvfj fail2ban-master.tar.bz2 and python setup.py install, or git clone https://github.com/fail2ban/fail2ban.git and install. Executable scripts placed in /usr/bin, configuration in /etc/fail2ban.

Pricing Model

Open-source software released under the GNU General Public License; no pricing information provided in the content.

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