How I stopped a massive WordPress spam attack with 4,700 lines of code in two days - thanks to Codex and Claude - ZDNET

Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget. Spam accounts overwhelmed my database. Claude found the weaknesses, Codex wrote the fixes, and I deployed a new defense. Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. About a month ago, my main website was on the receiving end of a new attack. Spammers were using the username field as a message carrier, stuffing it with a fake domain and crypto bait such as “check balance,” “withdraw funds,” “BTC transfer” and “action required.” WordPress then helpfully forwarded that payload to me in thousands of “new user registration” emails. Also: Apple rushed to squash 29 bugs because AI is supercharging hackers – update ASAP At that time, my server was using a commercially purchased security product that was supposed to protect my WordPress website from registration spam. That product clearly wasn’t up to the task. I’m the developer of a WordPress security plugin that is designed to help users restrict access to their websites. Since the registration spam security product I had been paying for wasn’t working, I decided to build a spam security capability into my exi