our forum subject to spam attack after admin error

Started by bonnytiler, May 05, 2016, 01:01:30 AM

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bonnytiler

Hi folks, I hope I'm posting in the correct section. I recently stepped down as admin on our forum as it's owned now by a media group. The acting admin from said group unlocked the door of "members awaiting approval" (60,000+) and left us wide open to a spam attack which we got on a massive scale. They (acting admin) have managed to shut the door but we still have the problem of a lot of potential spammers that have been granted approval. I stepped back into admin role to help out with the spam attack but would like to know if there is any way we can eject the ones that have been let in other than just banning/deleting their accounts when they post?
thanks in advance.

Shambles

I'd be tempted to roll back the database to the most recent backup that didn't have the 'door' open.

engrz

try to restore the previous backup if spammers causes any problem or delete them from your admin pannel.

qc

You would need to check whether the database allows for something like this: delete all users from the members database where the registration date is before the date the "flood" happened and where the last login time is undefined / no login (have a look at the php source for the correct query to delete a member).
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Illori

it is not recommended to delete directly from the database as other tables are connected. users etc should always be deleted from SMF directly as it will take care of the cleanup of the other tables.

also most of our users dont know how to run a query or find one in a php file in the first place.

qc

Well, I just provided him with an option so he can decide for himself if he feels comfortable running SQL queries or getting someone knowledgeable to do this one-time-job for him. Identifying and deleting 60000 possible spambots requires either running a one-time SQL query, installing a mod (if there is one for that task), restoring a backup, or carpal tunnel surgery.
Playing quizduell? Having quizduell questions? Our german quizduell forum quizcommunity.de is looking for quiz freaks to come and play quizduell with us :)

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