Setup Cloudflare Bot Fight Mode & WAF

The Problem

These tools exist on your Cloudflare plan already in many cases, but left off (or on with default rules) you're leaving free protection against bots and common exploits unused.

About this problem

Cloudflare's bot and WAF features sit in front of the site and filter requests before they reach it. Bot Fight Mode and the managed WAF rules are available in different forms depending on the plan, and many sites never turn them on, or leave them at defaults that either do too little or interfere with legitimate integrations such as payment webhooks and APIs.

People come looking for this after seeing scraping, login attempts, fake form submissions or exploit probes in their logs. The harder part is not enabling the features but making sure they do not block real visitors, so testing and a short period of watching events afterwards is part of doing it properly.

What's Included

• Enabling Bot Fight Mode or Super Bot Fight Mode depending on your plan
• Configuring WAF rules appropriate to your site's platform (WordPress, custom, etc.)
• Testing that legitimate traffic and integrations aren't blocked
• Monitoring for a short period after enabling to catch false positives

What's NOT Included

• Enterprise-level custom WAF rule writing beyond what's available on your plan
• Fixing an active attack already in progress (different, more urgent engagement)
• Ongoing rule tuning beyond the initial setup

How It Works

1. I check which plan your zone is on to see which bot and WAF features are available.
2. I enable Bot Fight Mode or Super Bot Fight Mode as appropriate for that plan.
3. I turn on the managed WAF rulesets that suit your platform, such as WordPress or a custom application.
4. I add exceptions or skip rules for known good traffic like webhooks, APIs, payment gateways and monitoring.
5. I test normal browsing, forms, login and any integrations to confirm they still work.
6. I review Cloudflare's security events for a short period afterwards and adjust rules for any false positives.

In practice: you buy the service, send over whatever access or details the job needs, I investigate and do the work, and you confirm it's resolved before we call it done.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Cloudflare Bot Fight Mode?

It is a Cloudflare feature that challenges or blocks traffic identified as automated and malicious. The exact options depend on your plan.

Will the WAF block my real visitors?

It can occasionally, which is why I test and monitor for false positives after enabling it.

Does this work on the free plan?

Some protection is available on free plans, but advanced options need paid plans. I configure what your plan allows.

Can you stop an attack that is happening right now?

That is a more urgent, different kind of engagement and is not part of this setup service.

Will you write custom enterprise WAF rules?

Only within what your plan supports. Enterprise-level custom rule writing is not included.

Do you keep tuning the rules afterwards?

The short monitoring period after setup is included, but continuing rule tuning is not.