Attacks on ssh port

[Antony Mawer]

Chris Ryan wrote:
> protection - with the appropriate active firewall that
> blocks their IP address after x failed attempts
> permanently....

Has anyone found any good scripts or utilities for automating this kind 
of thing? I too have been subject to these probings, and my initial 
thought was to firewall off any address after any number of incorrect 
attempts.

While I could write a script to parse the ipfilter logs, I didn't want 
to go re-inventing the wheel for something which I was sure someone 
would have already attempted.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Cheers
Antony