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]

While creating this I had to research into what was being used to spam forums - I won't name the software but it's a sneaky peice of kit, all done legally I might add - but nonetheless annoying for us Administrators. I searched for one particular post the spambot makes - and I got a few thousand hits back. It's a BIG problem.

Not everyone will be bothered about it - I understand that, but I personally don't like the fact robots are posting adverts on my forum.

The one thing I will say is that they claim the software works around EVERY possible type of protection - now understand text is one thing - interpreting an image is something else, PLUS you can use ANY image you like, it will make it VERY VERY hard to any program to decypher what the image actually is.

I did come up with a few other ideas but this seemed to be the best way around it - and at this point I have had NO bots sign up on my site - and I hope this is the same for all those who have installed this.

Jason

[thedvs]

Originally Posted by TheBlackPoet View Post
i installed this... i put the verification in the images directory... it had the show.php and the htaccess file in it..... i then imported.... the images show... but when i click the correct one... i get the 404 error.. The requested page http://theblackpoet.com/register.php?clicked=3 cannot be found.

Using v3.6.4 i get the same error.

[Rich]

thedvs,

The first post says:

This has been tested on 3.6.2 - I cannot guarantee it will work on anything above

[steadicamop]

Hmmm I will investigate this - I suspect there are changes between 3.6.2 and 3.6.4 - will see what I can come up with.

[thedvs]

@ rich if we don't leave feedback, then the coders can't see what's what, it wasn't a gripe aimed at steadicamop!

[steadicamop]

It's no problem - I need to upgrade to 3.6.4 so it's a good a time as any to resolve any issues - there do appear to be template changes from 3.6.2 -I will check into this and release an update as soon as I can.

[Barakat]

just in the image_verification template need to change the links ......
that if you have a subfourm fourm
and its works on 3.6.4

works greate thanks

[steadicamop]

<font color="DarkGreen">Version 1.01 is out now - thanks to Barakat for the info that solved the issue - checking on version 3.6.4 now for any others.</font>

[thedvs]

Now it works brilliantly on 3.6.4, many thanks steadicamop

[muttt]

Tried to install it but the pictures don't show up... any thoughts?

[Edited to Add:] In light of GNeRaL's message immediately after mine, let me add that I don't get red Xes, I just get empty space where the pics should be.