Miscellaneous Hacks - Stop the Registration Bots

Control your vBulletin forum registration process and stop the registration bots.

This mod will check the the time it takes for a vBulletin registration form to be submitted. If the form is submitted faster then humanly possible, the registration will be denied and the admin contact will be emailed about the event. The time is settable

We will start the registration on the forum rules page in two ways. First we will add a custom hidden field with a hash. Second we will insert a randomly named hidden field with a random value. This should make it a bit difficult to program a bot since the field names on all sites will be different as well as the values.

We will use a second set of random hidden fields on the form page as well to add to the confusion.

Time stamps to check the time spent on registration submission are stored in a DB table and private.

A registration will have to come through the Rules page and the form. Every Site will be different.

Installation is very easy.

There are two templates to edit.
One database table is added.
Three hooks are utilized.
Includes uninstall code.
Adds to vBulletin options.
Set time frame option.
Includes Phrases.
Sends Mail to Admin.
No files to upload.
XML product install.
Instructions attached in zip.

Demo usage and view source at http://www.riderinfo.com/

Compatibility
This hack is known to work on vBulletin 3.6.11 PL1 and will likely work back a few versions in the 3.6.x vBulletin series. Of course it works on 3.7.x as posted too.

HISTORY
1.2.2
added admin email on/off setting
moved hook code to files to reduce overhead.
1.2.1
Added Enable/Disable setting.
Fixed coppa includes file probem
Added file upload instructions to readme file.
1.2.0
Added JS timer to registration button.
Added enable/diable for email.
Removed ACP settings for random fields on rules and reg form pages and automated.
Reworded Pharses in ACP.
Recoded rules form and reg form edits.
Renamed variables for better code following.
Added more DB fields per user reg for tracking random automation.
New Hook on start_registration for functions.
Added new functions file. includes/stb_functions.php.
1.0.3
Changed input user name on rules form to random named hidden field with hash value.
Removed \n chars from email phrases.
All changes to registration are transparent to the folks registering.
Renamed DB username field to hash.
New hook on register_signup.
1.0.2
Added new Pre Reg Name hidden field to register form edits and ACP.
Added code to deal transparently with user deciding to change name after pre submitting it.
1.0.1
Fixed typo, changed 36000 to 3600 in product file.
1.0.0
Original Release.

[Jesse Stratford]

Installed. Sounds good. Thanks!

[basilrath]

is this ok on 3.7.3 ? the last week has been a nightmare with contiuous bots registrations etc

[noppid]

I'm running it on 3.7.3 and 3.6.11 PL1.

[basilrath]

seems ok on 3.7.3

nice one noppid

[HEMICharger07]

Installed and running on 3.6.8. Already stopped 4 attempts. Seems to be working ok.

[noppid]

Great news. But darn, that just make us a bigger target I bet.

[Dominiek]

Installed. Looks good.

[kylek]

With the recent attack on tons of site I am going to give this a try on 5 sites.

[Debi]

just installed and we already had one get through. it has prevented a bunch though.

this spam attack seems like it's never going end.

[jscieza]

Just wondering what should happen if bot programmers inserts a delay before submit the registration form. This mod appears to be very easy to cheat.

I am curious. Sorry if my post makes no sense, I am not a programmer so my reasoning is from a human being