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2.0.18. Constant spam accounts being created.

Started by Peter de la mare, June 29, 2021, 07:14:10 AM

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Peter de la mare

I have all the anti-spam and security settings on the highest settings, except the visual verification image is on high.   The other measures like questions etc don't seem to work.

I get around a dozen spam accounts a day. 

Any tips?

Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen

More and better questions is usually the suggested course of action. Don't rely on just one or two questions that are repeated in cycles.
Combining that with recaptcha or alternatives works fairly well in my experience.
Slava
Ukraini!


"Before you allow people access to your forum, especially in an administrative position, you must be aware that that person can seriously damage your forum. Therefore, you should only allow people that you trust, implicitly, to have such access." -Douglas

How you can help SMF

Kindred

30 GOOD questions, asking 2 at registration.
Change the questions at least once a year
Слaва
Украинi

Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

Peter de la mare

Thank you Kindred and Aleksi, I'll update the questions and add loads of new ones.

Is 2.1 any better at spam protection or the same?

Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen

Basically the same options in 2.0 and 2.1, I don't think there is much difference out of the box.
Slava
Ukraini!


"Before you allow people access to your forum, especially in an administrative position, you must be aware that that person can seriously damage your forum. Therefore, you should only allow people that you trust, implicitly, to have such access." -Douglas

How you can help SMF

Steve

DO NOT pm me for support!


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Steve

DO NOT pm me for support!

shadav

yep them questions really are the best bet, I use some of what a10 posted here and here and then use questions specific to my site ie what color is the background of the site, what is our sites name, what color is the footer of the site
and then for my specific questions one one site, what game is our site about
or who is the main character, what is the first name of the person that voices (said character), who is the main female character
you get the idea....fairly easy questions for people to answer but not so easy for bots

so have a good handful of questions/answers and display them 2 at a time....I rarely have issues with spammers, I mean yeah there's going to be the occasional one that a person actually signed up and then let a bot loose, but then again if you require : Post count under which users must pass verification to make a post the bot is going to run into the same issues, I usually set mine to 5 or 10 posts

and this is helpful to install so you can have multiple correct answers: https://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/?mod=2984

efk

Quote from: Steve on June 30, 2021, 07:12:41 AM
Quote from: efk on June 29, 2021, 01:59:35 PM
https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=571419.msg4045460#msg4045460
https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=575212.msg4070909#msg4070909
Overcomplicating things imo ... Kindred's suggestion is simple, easy to implement and is highly effective.
My solution covers about 80% of possible situations and is advanced approach to different problems with guide to what settings to set and how. I could add more but some info should not be available like that, it is better per case.

Steve

I wasn't disparaging what you posted, efk. Just thought maybe the easier route should be tried first. :)
DO NOT pm me for support!

a10

Good questions still does wonders. 30x, 3 active. 10+ years without a single bot ever succeeding, millions of attempts on my forum (looking at server logs).

Still using this kind of templates, with great success> https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=531660.msg3776163#msg3776163
Try it, a few minutes to set up and all spam botnets are -immediately- history :O)

No other measures & nothing in ban list here. Seeing 2 or 3 human spammers pr. year, zero problem to deal with. If any lasting numbers of these (unlikely), then think about adding an extra mod.
2.0.19, php 8.0.23, MariaDB 10.5.15. Mods: Contact Page, Like Posts, Responsive Curve, Search Focus Dropdown, Add Join Date to Post.

Peter de la mare

Update, I added another 15 questions of the type suggested here and the other thread linked and I've not had any more spam accounts since.  Thank you very much all. 

Dave J

See attached for what I use

I am aware that they are rectangles...before anyone says anything  ;)
If you want quizzes to add to the new SMF2.1 quiz mod go here . There are also walkthroughs in the forum to explain how to install them and other tips.

efk

Nice idea Dave J, how many questions to answer on your forum? Also are there bots to go through?

Dave J

Quote from: efk on July 14, 2021, 11:42:11 AM
Nice idea Dave J, how many questions to answer on your forum? Also are there bots to go through?

3 questions to answer. No bots seen
If you want quizzes to add to the new SMF2.1 quiz mod go here . There are also walkthroughs in the forum to explain how to install them and other tips.

efk

Quote from: Dave J on July 14, 2021, 11:53:53 AM
Quote from: efk on July 14, 2021, 11:42:11 AM
Nice idea Dave J, how many questions to answer on your forum? Also are there bots to go through?

3 questions to answer. No bots seen
I guess bots are not capable to give correct answer to 3 questions and it sounds to be the best defense to have 3 questions active, but I personally prefer to go with 2 questions to make it for real humans to be easier. My questions are fairly harder than yours, your idea is at very advanced level, demands better understanding of English compared to my questions, and should be faster to answer.

3

Quote from: Dave J on July 14, 2021, 11:26:56 AM
See attached for what I use

I am aware that they are rectangles...before anyone says anything  ;)

Not very friendly for color-blind people though.

Dave J

Quote from: 3 on July 14, 2021, 05:43:16 PM
Quote from: Dave J on July 14, 2021, 11:26:56 AM
See attached for what I use

I am aware that they are rectangles...before anyone says anything  ;)

Not very friendly for color-blind people though.

That's a very valid point. I have now changed the image.
If you want quizzes to add to the new SMF2.1 quiz mod go here . There are also walkthroughs in the forum to explain how to install them and other tips.

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