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.

[steadicamop]

Originally Posted by basskiller

I have this up running on one forum. but just tried to install this on another
and RED X
and this is what is showing when I right click on the Xhttp://www.offshorebodybuilding.com/board/images/verification/show.php

the images are in the right folder
http://www.offshorebodybuilding.com/...ion/PacMan.jpg

I've tried just about everything
GD is enabled
I've tried reconfiguring the htaccess / Extra user verification in the plugin manager like stated in another previous post
also the image_verification template to reflect 'board/images/verification....' instead of 'images/verification....'

That is very strange, in view of the fact you already have it installed on another forum - I really don't know what to suggest as you've gone through the basic fault detection, and it should be working fine ... PM me if you want me to investigate further.

Jason

[steadicamop]

Originally Posted by agorman

Installed in with the latest patch 3.6.8 and it works great (hopefully).
Do I still need to run the captcha image thingie at registration (such a frustrating process for some people). - I have already added a question and answer as part of registration, so will these surfice?

Brilliant though. Thanks

That is entirely your choice, if by chance a bot managed to get past this, it would be a lot easier for them to complete the sign up with captcha disabled, but in all honesty, the bots were designed to beat captcha anyway so I don't think it would make much different either way.

The one thing I will say is, since this has been release and I've had it installed I have have NO spam sign ups whatsoever, so it must be working in the right direction.

HTH

Jason

[Sinkhole3]

We were getting about 200 junk sign-ups per month, making it very difficult to find the real sign-ups. It's been well over a month since I installed this add-on and we haven't gotten a single junk sign-up since. Thanks for such a clever and effective modification!!!

[SilentSleeper]

Ok, I am running vBulletin Version 3.6.8 most recent and seems to be working overall great. The only thing that I have found is that when a users clicks on the wrong image and is sent to the message " I'm sorry, you have selected the wrong image, please go back and try again. " and then hits the back link it will give them new image choices to click, but the word underneath them does not match all the time. Any idea's to make sure that the "hint" word will match the images all the time?

[dsmoke]

has anyone gotten this working on 3.5.4? thanks!

[basilrath]

when a users clicks on the wrong image

Lets face it someone who clicks the wrong image is ermmmmmmmmmm

[basilrath]

the system works fine on vbadvanced and six images ........yes ok

i was getting at least 15 a day now for now its ceased !

[basilrath]

still works no prblem however if the site is openend "within" another site ie like an i frame etc it wont show the images which i agree is not going to happen often but does nevertheless............can be rectified by an easy explanation to guests registering via

Languages and Phrase>Search in Phrases>

type in.......Please click the image above that is

Then change or copy this in

<font color="red"><b>If the images do not show open the site in your browser</font><br /><br />

Please click the image above that is<br />

This will explain (in red) and make the whole text obviously bold and better to see.

Sorry if this is a pain Steadicamop............

[steadicamop]

I've been out of the loop for a month or so - will sit down later on and go back through the posts and see what needs my attention - I will remake the product file for basilrath's suggestion and attach it to my post.

Jason

[MichaelJohnston]

Is there a way to set this up to work for unregistered posters as well?