--- title: Drupal Bot Protection Playbook description: Get a clear, actionable strategy to detect, filter, and eliminate malicious bot traffic before it hits your Acquia-hosted Drupal website. image: https://resource.prometsource.com/hubfs/drupal-bot-protection-playbook-landing-page.png --- [Skip to content](https://resource.prometsource.com/drupal-bot-protection-playbook#main-content) [![Promet Source logo](https://resource.prometsource.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Promet%20Logo%202019-01%20(1)%20(1).png?width=200&height=63&name=Promet%20Logo%202019-01%20(1)%20(1).png)](https://www.prometsource.com/) Open main navigation Close main navigation - [LET'S TALK](https://www.prometsource.com/contact) [LET'S TALK](https://www.prometsource.com/contact) # Stop paying for bot traffic. Start protecting your budget. Malicious bots and non-human traffic are inflating your Acquia hosting bills and draining performance. The *Drupal Bot Protection Playbook* gives technical leaders a clear, actionable strategy to detect, filter, and eliminate costly traffic before it hits your infrastructure. Designed specifically for public-sector Drupal sites, this guide shows how to cut through the noise and reclaim control of your digital budget, without switching platforms or disrupting users. [DOWNLOAD THE PLAYBOOK](https://resource.prometsource.com/drupal-bot-protection-playbook#completion-form) ![Book cover showing a blue shield protecting a web browser from angry robots, with the title 'Drupal Bot Protection Playbook: A Technical Director’s Guide to Eliminating Costly Traffic'.](https://resource.prometsource.com/hs-fs/hubfs/drupal-bot-protection-playbook-cover.png?width=1253&height=2000&name=drupal-bot-protection-playbook-cover.png "Book cover showing a blue shield protecting a web browser from angry robots, with the title 'Drupal Bot Protection Playbook: A Technical Director’s Guide to Eliminating Costly Traffic'.") ### Actionable technical strategies built for government and higher ed sites. 1. **Bot Detection 101:** Step-by-step guidance on identifying hidden bot traffic 2. **Drupal Security Foundations:** A checklist of must-have security practices to harden your site before layering on bot protection. 3. **Good Bots vs. Bad Bots:** Practical strategies for whitelisting essential bots and blacklisting malicious bots and scrapers. 4. **The Edge Layer:** A breakdown of why traditional bot controls are ineffective against sophisticated bots—and why edge-layer WAF is the gold standard for cost and performance. 5. **Form Defense:** Tips for defending contact forms and registration pages from spam bots using reCAPTCHA and honeypots, as part of a holistic defense strategy. 6. **Ongoing Monitoring & Maintenance:** Advice on setting up dashboards and alerts for bot traffic, with Promet’s playbook for quarterly security reviews, continuous tuning, and incident response. 7. **Tailored Protection Plans for Government and Higher Education:** Detailed insights on protecting mission-critical features unique to government and higher education. 8. **FAQs and Troubleshooting:** Answers to common questions about Cloudflare, Acquia, SEO impacts, implementation timelines, ongoing support, and how to justify bot protection investments to stakeholders. Download the playbook! ![alt=""](https://resource.prometsource.com/hubfs/orange-arrow-1.svg "alt=\"\"") ![alt=""](https://resource.prometsource.com/hs-fs/hubfs/branding-bg.png?width=150&height=221&name=branding-bg.png "alt=\"\"") > This playbook captures our collective insights and actionable strategies to empower your team. We've also developed a turnkey solution—an optimized Cloudflare integration specifically for Drupal websites hosted on Acquia and Pantheon—to rapidly and effectively address the challenges detailed here. > >   > > Consider this playbook and our turnkey solution as our commitment to helping you clearly identify, control, and eliminate costly bot traffic, allowing you to refocus your resources and attention back onto your core mission and the communities you serve. > > > > ![Andy Kucharski](https://resource.prometsource.com/hubfs/andy_kucharski.png) > > Andy Kucharski > > **CEO, Promet Source** ![Matt Driffill](https://resource.prometsource.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Matt-Driffill.png?width=175&height=175&name=Matt-Driffill.png "Matt Driffill") Matt Driffill Digital Content Manager City of Rochester ![Brenda Massie](https://resource.prometsource.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Brenda-Massie.png?width=175&height=175&name=Brenda-Massie.png "Brenda Massie") Brenda Massie Project Manager/ Business Analyst City of Rochester ![Peter Ross](https://resource.prometsource.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Peter-Ross.png?width=175&height=175&name=Peter-Ross.png "Peter Ross") Peter Ross Director of UI/UX Promet Source ![Rob Ellis](https://resource.prometsource.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Rob-Ellis.png?width=175&height=175&name=Rob-Ellis.png "Rob Ellis") Rob Ellis Sr. Solutions Engineer  Acquia ![Amy Groenhof](https://resource.prometsource.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Amy-Groenhof.png?width=175&height=175&name=Amy-Groenhof.png "Amy Groenhof") Amy Groenhof Proposal Manager Promet Source [![Promet Source logo](https://resource.prometsource.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Promet%20Logo%202019-01%20(1)%20(1).png?width=200&height=63&name=Promet%20Logo%202019-01%20(1)%20(1).png "Promet Source logo")](https://www.prometsource.com/) Bringing what's new and next in technology to the public sector. 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