Miscellaneous Hacks - Enhanced Captcha Image Verification - stop bots from signing up!!

Title : Enhanced Captcha Image Verification

Version : 1.1

Coder : Andy Calderbank & Jason Williams

Purpose : Add extra Image Verification to the registration process, using an alternative system to the Captcha system.

Why : It would appear that spammers can now "read" the Captcha codes and overcome the verification process.

How : This extra feature uses images which are harder for a spam program/bot to interpret than text characters. The user has a choice of 4 randomly displayed images, and the answer is given below. The user must click on that image to proceed, if the incorrect image is selected an error message is shown. The images are randomly shown (from however many are in the directory - you can have as many as you want, just has to be more that 4!) and are automatically created from the images/verification/ directory - all on the fly. Sample images are included with this release, but you can use your own - I recommend using 100 x 100 pixels, in .jpg format and naming the image with a meaningful title (ie A House.jpg) - the extension is stripped so only the filename itself is shown.

To further enhance security, the images are passed through a script which means that none of the images on the screen have file names - and cannot be associated to the question by title alone.

I have been testing this on my forum and have found it to be effective - I cannot guarantee that this will stop all spamming, but this relies more on human input than a computer "reading" the image.

Important : This has been tested on 3.6.2 - I cannot guarantee it will work on anything above, please test with caution - and as always BACKUP FIRST! This will not work on anything below 3.6.0.

Demo : http://www.steadiforum.com/register.php

I hope this is help to the VBulletin community as I know this is a growing problem. I don't fancy the thought of trawling through hundreds of new members deleting stupid usernames and spam posts.

Installation :

1. Upload the verification/ directory to your images/ folder - make sure .htaccess and show.php are present - otherwise it won't work.
2. Import Product - product-image_verification.xml

Upgrading :

1. Upload show.php to the images/verification/ directory.
2. Import Product - product-image_verification.xml - select Allow Overwrite to enable upgrade.

Requirements : GD Libraries installed

File uploads : 39 (including images)
Files to Import : 1
New Templates : 1
New Phrases : 5
Uses Hooks : 1
New Queries : 0

History :
v1.0 - Original release
v1.01 - Slight code change for forums in sub-directories (thanks go to Barakat for solving this one)
v1.1 - Issue resolved with Windows servers also template clean up for xhtml compliance
v1.11 - Added version check function, minor upgrade.

Done - if you like please click install! (and I won't ask for any donations as long as you click Nominate for MOTM!)

Don't forget you don't have to use the provided images - you can customise these to any you wish - I've used ones that are hopefully universal and everyone will recognise.

[Alibass]

Great news Jason and thanks!

[stryderunknown]

Originally Posted by steadicamop

I don't want to step on your toes with this one if you have something in mind, but the digits on the image sounds like a neat idea - it is something that should be fairly easily added, would it be ok with you if I looking into adding this idea into this product - and of course with full credit to yourself.

It's no problem that's why I put the ideas forwards.

My project is a little different and there is a likelihood that I'm going to have to learn some of the interfacing that your project already has to implement it and it's somewhat different to what I mentioned for yours. So I guess you can call it an intellectual trade (I won't be ripping code though, just learning from it).

[Juvefan]

Originally Posted by extreme-mobile

i dont get any images showing just the words vbsecurereg or somethig any idea?

same problem

[Juvefan]

Originally Posted by Juvefan

same problem

please help me

[steadicamop]

You need to make sure the image files are in the correct directory - should be /images/verification - right click on one of the images (that isn't showing) and check that the location matches where the files are - if not let me know your site details and I will have a look...

Jason

[Juvefan]

The location of the files is correct..
What details do you need?
The url of the forum is www.juvefans.org

[steadicamop]

You have GD installed in PHP? (This will be down to your hosting company, you can check if it's installed in the AdminCP - Maintanence -> View PHP Info).

If you can enable the product for a short while so I can see what is happening - that would be appreciated.

Jason

[mystic10]

i did have any show.php file please attach it

[mystic10]

oops sorry i do have the show.php installed but still not working its give function error

[steadicamop]

If it gives a function error, I suspect you don't have GD installed - please check into that and let me know - if it's not installed, this won't work.

Jason