Some security changes made on the board

[Husker]

There have been a couple of security changes made on the board, to try to keep as much of the spammer signups off, as we possibly can. One of these changes, is to turn the 'black hole' detection back on. This checks IPs at registration time (and posting), against a couple of web sites that store a list of 'spamming' IP's.

We had this setup at one time, but turned it off, as it seemed to slow things down. At this time, we are getting 5 to 25 spam sign ups each day, and it is simply taking too much time cleaning up all these vermin.

We need users to monitor just how the posting goes, and IF you get false alarmed, and the board does not allow you to post, then send a PM to me (or tater), and we will do what we can. NOTE, posting may be slowed down a bit, but at this time, we really have no other choice.

H.

[AKAAB]

Is there an option or add-on for phBBB to require mod approval for the first post by a new member?

[Husker]

We have had that for a couple years. That is why the normal users do not see all the shit that goes on. However, cleaning up 10-20+ spam user accounts, along with the posts they have generated, day after day, takes a lot of time.

H

[banter_king]

i can't speak for everyone but i for one would much rather things be a bit slower then to not have this resource. keep up the good work mods and admins

[CyberPirate]

Thanks Husker, yall keep up the good work, thanks to yall admins,

CyberPirate

[rad14701]

And to add to what Husker has stated, those numbers don't include the legitimate new members who register every day... So for every legitimate new member that everyone sees there are several that never make it into public view...

[Husker]

It may be that now, the delay is not so bad. A few years back, things slowed down so that a post took 10-20s to make. We removed the 'check blackhole' logic, and things sped up. But in doing so, we are at the mercy of the spammers. Yes we run a CAPCHA, but that is not that great of a 'help'. It does keep some of the wimpiest of the spambots out, but most have the captchas figured out. So, hopefully the blackhole list will help. It is simply a 'maintained' list of known spamming IP's. It will never be perfect, but if it can keep out 90% of the worst of them, it will make things a lot better.

Also, the few posts I have done since making this security change, have gone through quickly. Hopefully, the problems we saw using this type service have been taken care of. Also, at the time we had to shut it off, we were running from UJ's home run server. Now, we are running from a much better hosted site, so the latency we saw before may have been from our own server.

But again, if ANYONE has problems posting, or is denied the ability to post, then please contact me, in a PM.

H.

[rad14701]

I am not experiencing any speed related issues as yet so perhaps the new server is better able to cope with the additional overhead required...

[Husker]

Well, so far since putting the blackhole list into affect, there have been 3 signups in the last 4 hours, and all have been spammers

Hmm. May not have made much difference. Most of the spam signups are done by spammers using 'zombie' computers, so pretty much any IP can be used. This change may not have helped. I guess time will tell.

H.

[Usge]

Husker...I don't know beans about this stuff...but couldn't you use some kind of user response verification on new accounts (ie., type this in?). You know what I mean .

[Husker]

We have a Q&A captcha with custom questions I made. But most bots are able to look at the original 'raw' html pages, and ignore the captcha response, and simply post properly.

We are setup so that first post is 'moderated'. That keeps the crap out of public view. It is just a pain in the arse sifting through the 'valid' real users signing up, and the spam bots. Until about a month ago, it was not so bad. We were getting 4 or 5 new users and 4 or 5 spam signups. Now we are getting 4 or 5 users, and 5 to 20 spam signups a day. I have gotten very good at spotting the spam bots, even before they post, simply by certain characteristics of their profile (and the DNS records of their signup). But it does take a little time.

H.

[Mud Mechanik]

Wish I could help Husker, only thing I can offer is that I am willing to put up with a little slower forum to keep the Mods and Admins happy, ya'll are doing a great job

[junkyard dawg]

Yeah, I wish I could offer some assistance, but thats not my world...

I can say, great job ya'll. Thanks for doing what ya'll do. This is a great forum and all the credit goes to the dedicated folks that work behind the scene.

Cheers to all of you that work daily on keeping this running.

(holding up a glass of dutch genevie... thanks odin!)

[blanikdog]

Great move, Jim. Those vermin are such a pain.