UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users

Hi,
I'm trying find out if there is a way to stop a brute force attack on a Webmail site. I'm trying to setup a webmail access, but I would like to prevent too many invalid logins from the same IP.
I've looked into Snort, but I was wondering if there was an application level firewall that can blacklist an IP for few minutes.
Iptables can prevent ssh attack:

Code:

/sbin/iptables -D INPUT -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 22 -m state --state NEW -m recent --set --name SSH
/sbin/iptables -D INPUT -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 22 -m state --state NEW -m recent --update --seconds 60 --hitcount 8 --rttl --name SSH -j DROP

Can something similar be done for http? Probably not?

TIA,
Nitin

Look at fail2ban, it may suit your needs.