Spam?

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  • emil2k
    New Member
    • May 2006
    • 1

    Spam?

    I'm having a real big trouble with spam users on my forum, http://forum.gig4free.com/, they sign up even though I have image verification so I'm not sure how these bots do it....

    Here is example profiles...



    Here is example posts they make...



    Anyways I can't figure out somethings...
    How do I delete a user and his posts and ban his IP and E-mail? I can't find any good ban features?

    Also how do I delete mass amounts of users?
    Look at my memberlist a lot of them are spam bot users just press on their WWW columns, http://forum.gig4free.com/memberlist...e&pp=30&page=1

    I would appreciate any tips on how to fight this...allthough I don't want to put in the feature to adminester every user that signs up...

    Can someone help me out Im really getting sick of them, thanks
    Last edited by emil2k; Wed 3 May '06, 6:55pm.
  • Jake Bunce
    Senior Member
    • Dec 2000
    • 46598
    • 3.6.x

    #2
    I believe there are registration bots that can read verification images... or maybe a human is reading them for the bots.

    You can mass prune a user's posts in your:

    Admin CP -> Threads & Posts -> Prune

    You can ban IPs and emails in your:

    Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> User Banning Options

    You can mass prune users in your:

    Admin CP -> Users -> Prune / Move Users

    Comment

    • Bob Isaac
      Senior Member
      • Dec 2005
      • 771
      • 3.8.x

      #3
      I heard some time ago that a technology to beat the image verification had been developed, but my source doubted it would ever be used. Maybe he was wrong. Image verification was once considered bullet proof because it needed human intervention.

      If this technology is now in use then forums are tremendous feeding grounds for spammers and a way to prevent this needs to become a priority. I don't know if MTA's and antispam apps such as SpamAssassin can be modified for this.

      When I became aware of this technology I moved our domain email harvesting protection from image verification to a CGI based system - Master Spambot Buster.

      Bob

      Comment

      • forum_maniac
        Member
        • Jan 2006
        • 36

        #4
        Same problem here

        I also started having some mass user registration recently. I am using the GD Image Processing Library. Do you think the ImageMackig Processing library is safer?

        I also found the options to ban IP addresses and e-mail domains under vBulletin Options -> User Banning Options. I will use this function to blacklist IP addresses and e-mail domains that have been part of previous mass user creations. This will prevent further mass user creation from those IP addresses or e-mail domains.

        Comment

        • linesiders
          Member
          • Jun 2001
          • 32

          #5
          For the past three or four weeks I have banned IPs and deleted close to a dozen accounts for users registering and "spamming" my forums. More than half of these originate in Asia and a few in different parts of the US. My site is a regional US site where 99% of users are within 350 miles of my location.

          I am using image verification AND e-mail confirmation yet these unwanted spammers are getting on the boards. Any suggestions on how to handle this? Any way to determine if they are people spamming or a smart spambot?

          Thanks!

          John
          Surfcaster, trapped in a boater's body...

          Fish Hard - Live Long

          Comment

          • Freddie Bingham
            Former vBulletin Developer
            • May 2000
            • 14057
            • 1.1.x

            #6
            There exists at least one program that automates the process for spammers. All they need to do is key in the image verification and the rest is handled by the script.

            Comment

            • Danecookie
              Member
              • Nov 2005
              • 69
              • 3.5.x

              #7
              what about email verification man ?!! it pretty much solves many spam problem?

              Comment

              • linesiders
                Member
                • Jun 2001
                • 32

                #8
                Originally posted by Danecookie
                what about email verification man ?!! it pretty much solves many spam problem?
                E-mail verification is on - some one or some app is verifying the email
                Surfcaster, trapped in a boater's body...

                Fish Hard - Live Long

                Comment

                • Freddie Bingham
                  Former vBulletin Developer
                  • May 2000
                  • 14057
                  • 1.1.x

                  #9
                  Originally posted by linesiders
                  E-mail verification is on - some one or some app is verifying the email
                  The app I mentioned previously also verifies the email for the spammer.

                  Comment

                  • linesiders
                    Member
                    • Jun 2001
                    • 32

                    #10
                    Originally posted by Freddie Bingham
                    The app I mentioned previously also verifies the email for the spammer.
                    Are you aware of any defense?

                    I have reported the spammer "affiliates" to the benefitting site and banned the ip at the network level but I do not see much happening yet (though I have gone almost 5 days without one)...

                    Thanks,

                    John
                    Surfcaster, trapped in a boater's body...

                    Fish Hard - Live Long

                    Comment

                    • blinking8s
                      Member
                      • Dec 2003
                      • 51
                      • 3.0.8

                      #11
                      yeah, in the last week spam picked up heavily on the forum, I banned 3 today. also the email contact form for the admin is getting hit pretty darn hard.


                      both captcha and email varification are enabled.
                      blog88:88 | idiom88:88 | blinking8s.com | pixelpost.org | sportsshooter.com

                      Comment

                      • MSC
                        New Member
                        • Mar 2005
                        • 25

                        #12
                        Also getting lots more spam. Please can we have a solution to this. It looks like image verification no longer works.

                        Thanks,

                        Chris

                        Comment

                        • Freddie Bingham
                          Former vBulletin Developer
                          • May 2000
                          • 14057
                          • 1.1.x

                          #13
                          Originally posted by MSC
                          Also getting lots more spam. Please can we have a solution to this. It looks like image verification no longer works.

                          Thanks,

                          Chris
                          I don't believe that to be the case. We would need to review your web server logs to determine what is happening at your forum. I've exlpained what is most likely happening above.

                          Comment

                          • Nkay.
                            New Member
                            • May 2006
                            • 17
                            • 3.5.x

                            #14
                            Cant you set timerrs? A certain amount of time between each post going up

                            Comment

                            • bplein
                              Member
                              • Nov 2001
                              • 90
                              • 3.8.x

                              #15
                              This does seem to be a recent phenomena.

                              One of the sites that I help administer is having an increase in spam posts this month.

                              It might be impossible to block if the spammers are doing it 100% manually, but it's NOT hard to break any automation.

                              One example is to use an auto-morphing registration link. For example, the links to register.php should have a verification number in it, so that just going to "register.php" doesn't work. That means their people are going to have to click on the link just to get the register page (removes automation from just going to /register.php).

                              Next, the register.php page needs some
                              morphing as well. The fields for submission need to have different names every time so automation can't auto-fill the fields. Furthermore, the form action should be dynamic, so that you can't have automation simply send a bunch of info to the "register" form on "register.php" and have it work. Same goes for the verification pages.

                              Another step is to force the registration and verification to be done from the same machine. While this will break the occasional person who registers from their work computer and goes home to complete the registration, they can always start over. Store the user/cookie/IP address trio, for example.

                              Now, if they are simply having one bank of drone humans filling in forms and another simply verifying, we can't fix it. But if there is any automation, it can be broken, even if temporarily.

                              Otherwise using the "most popular BBS software" becomes a liability.
                              Administrator, http://Pirate4x4.com

                              Comment

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