Fake Accounts and SPAM Posts

[johnpoz]

@mer the amount of spam the last few days has been insane.. I have never seen it like this before..

[jwt]

@johnpoz @mer @Gertjan we continue to work on it. thanks for your support.

[johnpoz]

@jwt yeah quite aware - these nutjobs have have to ruin a good thing for everyone.. I am trying my best to keep the forums clean, but every few minutes more pop in.. It is insane.. But it looks to be a real concentrated effort if you google the phone numbers they are posting.. They are like the top 100 results returned on google - just flooding anywhere they can post.. Forums everywhere are getting hit and hard.

[elvisimprsntr]

One application I use for ODB-II diagnostics on my Ford vehicles (https://forscan.org) requires a forum invitation code, which you can only get when you pay for their application.

Now that you have to register to download the installer (CE or +), perhaps the forum invitation code can be part of the registration process.

P.S. script kiddies are at it again already.

[Patch]

@johnpoz said in Fake Accounts and SPAM Posts:

yeah I can see the IPs - and lots of vpns on the ones I checked.. But not just 1 vpn, ie saw many of the major vpn players

@johnpoz said in Fake Accounts and SPAM Posts:

on many a forum posts from all over the place in the last few days..

I mean a lot of different forums.. So clearly its not targeted at just pfsense forums.

@Pippin said in Fake Accounts and SPAM Posts:

OpenVPN forum has been hit also, close to 30000 posts the last few days.

That suggests the source of the spam has significant resources and has build the capacity to attack over a considerable time.

@Patch said in Fake Accounts and SPAM Posts:

I don't understand where the profit is in doing this. The motivations I can think of are

1. forum filter companies justifying their value

2. denial of service attack by a product or country or political competitor.

3. advertising for service spamming.

4. the thrill of achieving a successful attack.

5. A bot error

6. An angry ex-customer

Which suggest 2. is the most likely. Perhaps a response to Russia/Ukraine or Israel/Iran or American politics

[elvisimprsntr]

Script kiddies are at it again. Can their mother please shout down the stairs to the basement to tell the trolls to knock it off?

We are loosing the Whac-a-Mole game. Mark Rober seems to be good at inventing ways to defeat carnival arcade games.

[Popolou]

@johnpoz Perhaps rotate the anti-spam question on new user registration. I wouldn't be surprised if they simply added that answer to any bot script. I'm presuming they aren't bypassing this somehow...

[johnpoz]

@Popolou I have no control over any of that, just a mod.. Need to do something different, the amount getting through is insane

[mer]

I don't know if it helps but today I learned that one can only report 10 spam profiles per day :)

[johnpoz]

@mer while reporting is good.. It can also turn into a form of spam for the mods and admins. If its a blatant spam post, ie its own topic etc.. and especially if there are bunch it more than likely doesn't warrant reporting.

What is good to report is those ones buried in another thread that don't standout as spam from a quick glance.. We are all aware of these spam floods coming in and you can't but help but know that they are spam.. Reports are prob best on those ones that they came back latter and added spam links in them and the like.. Even ones on old threads, etc. buried deep in the thread that nobody noticed when they were posted, etc.

Thanks!!

[slu]

@johnpoz said in Fake Accounts and SPAM Posts:

while reporting is good.. It can also turn into a form of spam for the mods and admins.

Good point, sorry.

[stephenw10]

@johnpoz said in Fake Accounts and SPAM Posts:

Reports are prob best on those ones that they came back latter and added spam links in them and the like.. Even ones on old threads, etc. buried deep in the thread that nobody noticed when they were posted, etc.

Yup that ^. Those are the hardest to pick up otherwise.