Spambot limitation

[Anonymous Bosch]

Did we lose the limitation on new members ability to post URLs? I've noticed recent spambot posts have all been able to post links to whatever flimflam they're peddling within their first few posts.

So if we did lose that limitation, perhaps it ought to be reinstated.

[dbt1949]

He has been busy.

[Kraken]

Yeah, this one's on an impressive rampage. I can't afford to keep buying all its stuff!

[Pyperkub]

It's the shoes! It's gotta be the shoes!

[Daehawk]

Plz ban it ty ...19 posts now.

[Punisher]

Plz ban it ty ...19 posts now.

Hey.. Dont be a hater.. Even SPAMbots gotta put food on the mtherboard for the little SPAMlets!

I wonder of it's time to go to verified new accounts only..

[Rip]

You things are slow when I actually have to do the banning. Hopefully I did it right.

[GreenGoo]

Thanks Rip.

[Pyperkub]

Thanks Rip.

+1

[Rumpy]

So he Ripped him a new one

[FishPants]

Sorry guys I've been busy, the problem is this (latest) version of PHPBB doesn't have nearly the same level of support for mods/plugins -- and the banhammer/spamhammer mods were not ported over.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Sorry guys I've been busy, the problem is this (latest) version of PHPBB doesn't have nearly the same level of support for mods/plugins -- and the banhammer/spamhammer mods were not ported over.

Just noticed another spambot.

FWIW, the CleanTalk extension claims to be phpBB 3.2-compatible. While it's not a free service, according to their pricing page, the cost for a single site would only be $8/year. Anyway, have a butcher's below and see what you think:

All features of the extension:

• Stops spambots registrations.
• Stops spambots posts, topics.
• Guest posting on the forum without CAPTCHA.
• Invisible Anti-Spam without CAPTCHA, questions, puzzles, counting animals, math and etc.
• Bulk test of registered accounts for spam activity.

Extension info
We have developed an anti-spam extension for phpBB v3.1 and v3.2 that would provide maximum protection from spam. You can provide for your visitors a simple and convenient form of posts/registrations without annoying CAPTCHAs and puzzles. Our invisible protection blocks up to 100% of spambots.

Low false/positive rate
This MOD uses multiple anti-spam tests to filter spambots with lower false/positive rate as possible. Multiple anti-spam tests avoid false/positive blocks for real website visitors even if one of the tests failed.

Check existing users for spam
With the help of anti-spam by CleanTalk you can inspect through existing accounts to find and quickly delete spam users at once.

Spam attacks log
Service CleanTalk (this plugin is a client application for CleanTalk anti-spam service) records all filtered comments, registration and other spam attacks in the "Log of spam attacks" and stores the data in the log up to 45 days. Using the log, you can ensure reliable protection of your website from spam and no false/positive filtering.

Private blacklists
Automatically block comments and registrations from your private black IP/email address list. This option helps to strengthen the protection from a manual spam or block unwanted comments from users. You can add not only the certain IP addresses but also a separate subnet to your personal blacklist.

Blocking users by country
Automatically block comments and registrations from the countries you have set a ban for. This option is useful in cases of manual spam protection and for protection enhancement. If your site is not intended for an international audience and you do not expect comments/users from other countries.

Blocking comments by "stop words"
You can block comments which contain "stop words" to enhance spam filtering and messages with obscene words blocking. You can add particular words or phrases.

Check existing users for spam.
It can also check all the existing users for spam activity thru CleanTalk cloud database to find and quickly delete spam users.


The extension is a client application for cloud anti-spam service CleanTalk.org.
The CleanTalk is the premium anti-spam for phpB3, please look at the pricing. We try to provide the service at the highest level and we can not afford to offer a free version of our service, as this will immediately affect the quality of providing anti-spam protection. Paying for a year of service, you save a lot more and get:

• 100% protection against spambots
• Time and resources saving
• More registrations/comments/visitors
• Protect several websites at once at different CMS
• Easy to install and use
• Traffic acquisition and user loyalty
• 24/7 technical support
• Clear statistics
• No captcha, puzzles, etc.
• Free mobile app

Spam FireWall.
CleanTalk has an advanced option "Spam FireWall". This option allows blocking the most active spambots before they get access to your website. It prevents spambots from loading website pages so your web server doesn't have to perform all scripts on these pages. Also, it prevents scanning of pages of the website by spambots. Therefore Spam FireWall significantly reduces the load on your web server. Spam FireWall also makes CleanTalk the two-step protection from spambots. Spam FireWall is the first step and it blocks the most active spambots. CleanTalk Anti-Spam is the second step and checks all other requests on the website at the moment of submitting comments/registers etc.

How does Spam FireWall work?

• The visitor enters to your website.
• HTTP request data is checked against the nearly 5.8 million identified IP spambots.
• If it is an active spam bot, the bot gets a blank page, if it is a visitor then they receive the site page. This is completely transparent to the visitors.

All the CleanTalk Spam FireWall activity is being logged in the process of filtering.

Private blacklist for SpamFireWall
It allows you to add individual IP addresses and subnets to SpamFireWall. It blocks the attacks from IP addresses which are not included in the SFW base yet. This option can help to block HTTP/HTTPS DDoS, SQL, brute force attacks and any others that made it through the HTTP/HTTPS. You can add not only the certain IP addresses but also a separate subnet to your personal blacklist.

Installation

1. Download the archive and place it in "<phpBB-root-folder>/ext". Unzip the content of the archive in that folder. As the result you will get this path: "<phpBB-root-folder>/ext/cleantalk".
2. Go to phpBB Administrator Panel —> CUSTOMISE. In "Disabled Extensions" table the extension "Antispam by CleanTalk" should appear. Click the string "Enable" and confirm enabling of the extension on the next page.
3. Refresh the page after successful enabling. Go to the tab EXTENSIONS. In "ANTI-SPAM BY CLEANTALK —> Spam protection settings" section set up the extension: enable "Check Registrations", "Moderate Guests" and "Moderate Newly Registered Users".
4. Copy the access key from your CleanTalk Control Panel and paste it into the "Access key" field. Then press the button "Submit".
5. Congratulations! The anti-spam extension is now installed.

How can I test anti-spam protection?
Do a test registration or post a test comment using the blacklisted e-mail [url=mailto:stop_email@example.com]stop_email@example.com[/url].

Should I use other anti-spam extensions?
Use other anti-spam solutions not necessarily, because CleanTalk stops up to 100% of spambots. In some cases, several anti-spam hooks can conflict, so it will be better using just one extension.

Is MOD compatible with phpBB 3.2?
We have tested the compatibility our Anti-Spam mod with phpBB 3.2 and for the moment we can report that our phpBB MOD is running fine.

Troubleshooting Guide
Anti-spam by CleanTalk support forum - https://community.cleantalk.org/viewforum.php?f=28

If you're having trouble getting things to work after installing the hook, here are a few things to check:

If you haven't yet, please upgrade extension to the latest version.
If you have error '*** Forbidden. Enable JavaScript. Anti-spam service cleantalk.org. ***' please check JavaScript support in your browser.
If you have spam signups or posts please check the Access key at hook settings. The key should be same as you can find in service Control panel.

Please, note that data will be sent to CleanTalk's servers for analysis. CleanTalk doesn't collect this data, it will be deleted after 7 or 45 days, depends on a tariff. You could enable the setting "Don't save approved requests" which forbids CleanTalk to store the data.

[Rumpy]

For $8 a year, might be worth it. Especially if there are updates that improve things as spammers find new methods.

[FishPants]

Ok I will take a look at it, if that's all it costs and it works it's totally worth it.

[FishPants]

Ok I paid for a year and have it installed. Hope this helps!

[Anonymous Bosch]

Ok I paid for a year and have it installed. Hope this helps!

Thanks muchly, Fishpants. If it works as described, it certainly ought to help minimise the aggravation of dealing with spambots going forward.

[Pyperkub]

Keep us updated on how it's working (thinking the spam attack log)!

[FishPants]

Had to disable it as it was blocking certain people/browsers (including me on safari but not in chrome.. odd). Will investigate.

[pr0ner]

I'm back in now, but I had to sign myself back in on Chrome on my computer (had no such login issues with my phone once I was able to access here again).