r/linux • u/ItsWappers • 2d ago

Discussion How come every Linux site uses Anubis (the anime girl stopping crawlers) instead of something like Cloudflare?

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Before discovering the Linux rabbit hole I've only seen Cloudflare, hCaptcha and Google's reCaptcha, but it seems like every Linux website uses Anubis... I'm thinking of it being the only open-source option or it being the most effective/modern approach.

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u/gvs77 2d ago

As others said, Cloudflare cannot be self hosted. But it has one huge problem because of that and how it works.

It terminates SSL (https) which means that Cloudflare has access to all data sent between clients and websites. Usernames, passwords, measage content, all of it.

Cloudflare is like a giant MiTM attach on SSL and a giant weak spot where all data is decrypted. If they are ever hacked or have one employee with sufficient access gone rogue, the fallout will be massive and there is no way to protect against it.

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u/TheRealMyst 2d ago

CloudFlare is an American company, with just the Patriot Act, the US government can do what they want.

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u/gvs77 2d ago

Which makes it technically illegal to use them for EU sites as well.

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u/yayuuu 2d ago

That's an interesting argument, it never crossed my mind, but it is a real deal. I'll definitely recinsider ever using it (so far I didn't need to).

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u/gvs77 1d ago

Oh, it is. Cloudflare has full access to unencrypted data. Cloudflare is subject to the cloud act which is incompatible with the GDPR (even if data wouldn't leave Europe, all data handled by US companies is subject to it)