Spam Bots on the Forum

[Star Way]

Hello all- this isn't a real update, just an announcement regarding the spam robots that have been popping up on the forum as of late.

It seems that this problem is attributed to the current version of phpBB. Apparently somehow there's a vulnerability which allows spam bots to bypass the e-mail registration and begin posting. Other forums are also having this issue, and phpBB is aware of the problem and I believe that they're working on it.

In the mean time, I know it's annoying, but there's not a whole lot we can do about it (besides changing the registration type to admin, inwhich case I'd have to approve every single person who joins here, and that would be *such* a pain in the eye.)

It would be nice if everyone would try to ignore the bots. When they post, instead of making a reply, either ignore it, or notify a mod. One way or another someone will take care of it, but there's no point in paying any attention to their useless ramblings, wouldn't you say? (Unless, of course, you are indeed interested in purchasing Viagra... inwhich case, I would ask that you do that via other means, please, and without telling us, because I don't think anyone wants to know. )

Thanks so much for your patience and cooperation. I know it sucks, but we just gotta deal with it I'm afraid.

Erynn

[Overcaffeinated Sloth offline]

So, how would we know they'd post? By setting up a commercial user account, or guest account, or what?

[Reesane offline]

Pardon my asking, but what is a "Spam-Bot?"

[Tekirai offline]

It's a 'robot' that spams email, forums, guestbooks, IMs and all that jazz. You may have seen people who display their email (I think Star Way's done it on the contacts page) like this: ilikemuffins[AT]meowmix.boom. Or even tekirules@w00t[DOT]com. Some sites like FF.net even put your email address in an image for you. Spam-bots can take in emails that don't change like that and email the spam to them. That should be about right.

(Unless, of course, you are indeed interested in purchasing Viagra... inwhich case, I would ask that you do that via other means, please, and without telling us, because I don't think anyone wants to know. ;)

Wouldn't it be a riot if someone did, though? xDD Ahh, sorry. I'm being mean. Somehow.

[Star Way]

It's a 'robot' that spams email, forums, guestbooks, IMs and all that jazz. You may have seen people who display their email (I think Star Way's done it on the contacts page) like this: ilikemuffins[AT]meowmix.boom. Or even tekirules@w00t[DOT]com. Some sites like FF.net even put your email address in an image for you. Spam-bots can take in emails that don't change like that and email the spam to them. That should be about right.

Yep, that's right. Thanks for answering. ^^

When spambots post, it'll be really obvious because they'll advertise drugs, dating sites, porn, and other things like that....

(Unless, of course, you are indeed interested in purchasing Viagra... inwhich case, I would ask that you do that via other means, please, and without telling us, because I don't think anyone wants to know.

Wouldn't it be a riot if someone did, though? xDD Ahh, sorry. I'm being mean. Somehow.

People *must* buy from spammers... wouldn't you think? I mean, there wouldn't be as much spam if absolutely no one fell for it... The same must go for adware.

[Dairall offline]

phpBB has a guide to passing bots, I'll look for all thr important and quick deteil.

1. Set activation to 'user' or 'admin'
This means to prevent fake email adresses.

2. Enable visual confirmation

3. Using mods.
These are home made mods blocking spam, .ect
Block Open Proxy Registrants by TerraFrost
Blocks those attempting to register from open proxies. xgmx can come back through this.

Disable spambots Registrants by TerraFrost
Blocks those attempting to register from open proxies. xgmx can come back through this.

The humanizer by Underhill
Adds the question 'Are you human?' to the registration form which must be answered for the registration to be processed. Since this isn't a standard phpBB question, most bots will not answer it.

One last thing for Erynn, I know you have alot of "no posters" no the user list, so this one, seems very helful.
Admin Toolkit - Allows you to mass delete users. Users should never be deleted straight from the users table.

Source: phpbb.com

[Star Way]

phpBB has a guide to passing bots, I'll look for all thr important and quick deteil.

1. Set activation to 'user' or 'admin'
This means to prevent fake email adresses.

2. Enable visual confirmation

3. Using mods.
These are home made mods blocking spam, .ect
Block Open Proxy Registrants by TerraFrost
Blocks those attempting to register from open proxies. xgmx can come back through this.

Disable spambots Registrants by TerraFrost
Blocks those attempting to register from open proxies. xgmx can come back through this.

The humanizer by Underhill
Adds the question 'Are you human?' to the registration form which must be answered for the registration to be processed. Since this isn't a standard phpBB question, most bots will not answer it.

One last thing for Erynn, I know you have alot of "no posters" no the user list, so this one, seems very helful.
Admin Toolkit - Allows you to mass delete users. Users should never be deleted straight from the users table.

Source: phpbb.com

The first two are fairly elementary (har har, I live in England now so I gotta pull some British crap here and there)... As for MODs, I never mess with them even if they've been approved (they're a pain, since if you want to keep them you have to do special installation things when the time comes to upgrade, and also I'm just not comfortable with the fact that they provide potential security issues. and then, of course, I dunno anything about PHP so, ehh.)

What's wrong with deletion via users table?

[Dairall offline]

I dunno, I was copying the phpbb site.

[Overcaffeinated Sloth offline]

The first spambot's post

The first Spambot

It would appear we have in fact been hit...

[MY85 offline]

The first spambot's post

The first Spambot

It would appear we have in fact been hit...

He wans't the first one, I'm telling you.

Locked the thread. Can't ban him from my position.

[Jeremified offline]

It's a 'robot' that spams email, forums, guestbooks, IMs and all that jazz. You may have seen people who display their email (I think Star Way's done it on the contacts page) like this: ilikemuffins[AT]meowmix.boom. Or even tekirules@w00t[DOT]com. Some sites like FF.net even put your email address in an image for you. Spam-bots can take in emails that don't change like that and email the spam to them. That should be about right.

(Unless, of course, you are indeed interested in purchasing Viagra... inwhich case, I would ask that you do that via other means, please, and without telling us, because I don't think anyone wants to know.

Wouldn't it be a riot if someone did, though? xDD Ahh, sorry. I'm being mean. Somehow.

ROFL I've been getting those e-mails ALL THE TIME. And it's always from a different e-mail address, with different messed-up spelling, and a different website. >>;

[Lyokofreak offline]

I thought of some rough ways to force the spambot to screw up... Besides the stupid coding, the only thing that can possibly fix the exploit is a post-level verification image. The IMAGE's name is spoofed as a spam.gif (or w/e). The only way for a spambot to identify the image is by its name under its own temp files i believe :/ ... When spam.gif is read by "spambot", a message can be sent to the admin or mods and they can ipban this "spambot" before it's able to register... Long text verifications mixed with that might work very well... But im NO php coder and im still learning html lolz

[Darkborn offline]

I don't think bots have an IP, Hack..

[Jeremified offline]

I agree; a spambot is just a floating... evil thingy. No IP address because you need a home to have an address.

[Dairall offline]

Its also not bots. It's lifeless zombie idiots who join to spam. I hate them. Who else? Here is my list of spam:
1. Human- Spaming 50 usless post if not cought.
2. Bot- Posting in a no protected forum with no care!
3. Human-Joining not posting, but PMing.
There are maybe lots of examples. But spambots, I REALLY HATE!
Some bot have an IP of 0.x Star way could ban an ip with a afterrisk(*) So bots like 0.* can't join.

[Lyokofreak offline]

It still needs to be hosted on a local machine, at least one connection is made... AT LEAST 1
do a trace and/or nbtstat on unfamiliar ip's (once again, VERY active moderation is required when someone uploads the bot to the db)

Thanks so much for your patience and cooperation. I know it sucks, but we just gotta deal with it I'm afraid.

Erynn

I found many mods for spambots though :O

then again... changing the port this forum uses could fix it. Since the bot is coded to spam on port 80... People would probly have to go to lyokofreak.net/forum/:12345 or whatever port you prefer to use...
But then comes the DNS Crap and the messing w/ webhost... I dont know if you think its worth it

its all trial and error lol...

[Dairall offline]

I found many mods for spambots though :O

Star way doesn't prefere mods. Something about updating. Too much trouble. But, so did I. I think it's great she doesn't use mods, good admin!
[OF: Nice nick]

[Carth]

Nudder one showed up.

It's advertising porn sites. With, er...free previews.

Please get rid of it. I'm going to go clear my Temporary Internet.

[Reesane offline]

My other fourm is taking precations, too.

Also look at the "Illiteret Spam" thread.

[Stephen (x1)]

I would like to point out that almost all the members on the Memberlist with the location "USA" are spambots. Just check their profiles to confirm it...So if there's a random or spammy post, check their location..

[Rail Runner offline]

I also notice that spambots joining the forums usually designate a first letter with last full name...for example JRodriguez or something...I have noticed that the most.

[LadyChaos offline]

I also notice that spambots joining the forums usually designate a first letter with last full name...for example JRodriguez or something...I have noticed that the most.

Hmmm... the spambots I get on a forum I co-administrate all use a series of numbers and letters. We get about one every 3 days or so. The location tends to change too, it's not just USA. I delete all of them the second I see their posts, so I can't go back and check any of them.

[codeTONY offline]

http://www.lyokofreak.net/forum/memberl ... C&start=40

Whoa, look at all of the "USA" locations. Click "next" to see all of the spambots.

Whoa, this is my 666th post.

[Reesane offline]

The fourm i posted a link to had an infestation, an most of them had rushan e-male addreses (yes fokes, you can tell what contry someone is from by looking at their e-male adress)....

... now all people from rusha who join the fourm are doomed.....

[Lyokofreak offline]

Hello all- this isn't a real update, just an announcement regarding the spam robots that have been popping up on the forum as of late.

It seems that this problem is attributed to the current version of phpBB. Apparently somehow there's a vulnerability which allows spam bots to bypass the e-mail registration and begin posting. Other forums are also having this issue, and phpBB is aware of the problem and I believe that they're working on it.

In the mean time, I know it's annoying, but there's not a whole lot we can do about it (besides changing the registration type to admin, inwhich case I'd have to approve every single person who joins here, and that would be *such* a pain in the eye.)

It would be nice if everyone would try to ignore the bots. When they post, instead of making a reply, either ignore it, or notify a mod. One way or another someone will take care of it, but there's no point in paying any attention to their useless ramblings, wouldn't you say? (Unless, of course, you are indeed interested in purchasing Viagra... inwhich case, I would ask that you do that via other means, please, and without telling us, because I don't think anyone wants to know. )

Thanks so much for your patience and cooperation. I know it sucks, but we just gotta deal with it I'm afraid.

Erynn

I wouldn't mind doing that...

and something MUST be done. These spambots are destroying the boundaries of BKO... in effect.