Ban frequent IP

J-W43 · Post by **J-W43** » Wed Mar 23, 2016 8:46 am

One spammer with an email address ending in gmx.li has registered three times in 24 hours (but can't post because of post approval).

I've been deleting his membership without banning IP because I believe he receives an email advising him of the ban and I would prefer not to annoy him with a message.

My question is - if I delete him first, then ban the IP, does he receive a notification, if so, how, since his email has been deleted? I want to ban him by email, username or IP without sending him a message.

david63 · Post by **david63** » Wed Mar 23, 2016 8:48 am

Banning IP addresses is a somewhat pointless exercise as all a spammer needs to do is reboot their router and they will have a new IP address, that is if they are not operating behind a proxy.

Post by **stevemaury** » Wed Mar 23, 2016 1:49 pm

And it's not a person.

Lumpy Burgertushie · Post by **Lumpy Burgertushie** » Wed Mar 23, 2016 2:12 pm

I could be wrong but I don't think the board sends any emails about being banned.

robert

RMcGirr83 · Post by **RMcGirr83** » Wed Mar 23, 2016 2:43 pm

Lumpy Burgertushie wrote:I could be wrong but I don't think the board sends any emails about being banned.

robert

You aren't wrong, it doesn't.

2600 · Post by **2600** » Thu Mar 24, 2016 2:09 am

Use the extension in my sig. If this is a human spammer then banning the IP would be prudent. No E-mail is sent on that.

If you have the option in the ACP to not reuse E-mail addresses than I wouldn't delete the user. That way he/she will have to keep creating a new E-mail address which would be a PITA for them. I had one user create constant accounts. I warned her and yet she persisted. I even don't allow E-mail reuse, but she would create tons of E-mail addresses. I was forced to allow registration by Admin only. I then banned her IPs in Cloudflare. And you can't connect directly to me due to my IP being blocked in htaccess. You have to go through Cloudflare. Even then you won't get my real IP. Cloudflare resolvers show the old one and the MX record doesn't exist. Just food for thought.

You can ban an IP in the ACP, or use this code in your htaccess:

Code: Select all

<Limit GET POST HEAD>
order allow,deny
allow from all
deny from 1.2.3.4  <---- your ip to ban
</Limit>

J-W43 · Post by **J-W43** » Thu Mar 24, 2016 9:51 am

I used a * wildcard and accidentally banned a genuine user and I got an email within half an hour asking why he had been banned. I assumed he got an email, but perhaps it was just that he couldn't log in.

I may restart banning individual IPs because one IP has been used four times yesterday and today from Russia.

Post by **Mick** » Thu Mar 24, 2016 9:57 am

Banning IP's is mostly a waste of time, you'll have hundreds by the time you've done chasing this bot around and that can impact on the boards performance. Please post a link to your board.

J-W43 · Post by **J-W43** » Thu Mar 24, 2016 10:07 am

Board is http://forum.dloc.co.uk/index.php I have most admin permissions but I'm not the Full Admin.

Post by **Mick** » Thu Mar 24, 2016 10:27 am

The reason you're getting this issue is because you're using a CAPTCHA that was basically defeated when Methuselah left school. You should consider setting up the Q&A CAPTCHA as per Knowledge Base - How to configure Q&A CAPTCHA and making sure the Q&A you use CANNOT be Googled. You should also have a read of Preventing Spam in phpBB3 for other anti-spam ideas. With a correctly set Q&A up you won't need any third party add-ons and you're spam will stop.

J-W43 · Post by **J-W43** » Thu Mar 24, 2016 10:30 am

You're right but most of our members are over 80 and some couldn't deal with the more complicated Captcha so the Full Admin changed it. I'll pass on your message.

Post by **Mick** » Thu Mar 24, 2016 10:33 am

The Q&A isn't more complicated, it asks you a question and you answer it. Just because the users may be in their latter years doesn't mean they can't read and write? In any case, the Q&A will sort out the issue.

noth · Post by **noth** » Sat Jul 29, 2017 2:53 pm

the usual IP is e.g 90.215.30.152

but now mobile phones have come along you get e.g. 2a02:c7d:260f:d00:2517:1984:2c2:43ce

I am used to banning the first, but can you add the second just as easy, will it work? will phpBB admin accept the second format?

david63 · Post by **david63** » Sat Jul 29, 2017 2:59 pm

As far as I am aware phpBB is IPv6 compatible so it should work - try it and see.

WelshPaul · Post by **WelshPaul** » Sat Jul 29, 2017 4:00 pm

noth wrote: ↑Sat Jul 29, 2017 2:53 pm but now mobile phones have come along you get e.g. 2a02:c7d:260f:d00:2517:1984:2c2:43ce

That's an IPv6 address and isn't exclusive to mobile phones.