We are being bugged.. !!

[muddy]

I don't know, but I tend not to respond to new members just to be on the safe side, at least until someone else has first!

Are  there any new members ? 

[klondike]

Virtually no real ones. Anybody interested in a forum aimed at pensioners is going to search for pensioners forum and as PF has been around since shortly after the last elephant left the ark that comes tops in that search followed by the myriad council forums. This place doesn't get found unfortunately.

Still plenty of potential spammers though - another 40 declined and this 5 just deleted
271   Richardhig   Richardhig   [email protected]   178.176.75.84   Never   0   
270   Lloydwoogy   Lloydwoogy   [email protected]   178.176.76.245   Never   0   
269   Henrybibly   Henrybibly   [email protected]   94.25.169.39   Never   0   
268   Koreysurce   Koreysurce   [email protected]   31.173.84.34   Never   0   
267   GlennFut   GlennFut   [email protected]   31.173.80.37   Never   0   

I may start blocking IP addresses.

[klondike]

The attempted signups by spammers have eased off a lot but still continue. Some were probably using fake but valid email addresses as some verification emails were being reported as spam.

That causes complaints from the free email provider the site uses so I've removed the need to validate emails which makes it more likely that spammers will register if not rejected by the StopForumSpam mod I've added. If so sorry but having a spammer is better than not having lost password emails available.

Worse in the error log are attempts to corrupt the database with the SQL injection attacks I saw and mentioned before. Usually blocking IPs is pretty pointless but I did block the Ukrainian VPN IP involved in the latest one. They look like this in the forum error log which is simpler to look at than the server log.

Guest
178.159.37.78
2efa88994ce3ba01be4d3495acd76586
https://letschat.club/index.php?action=signup2
/opt/bitnami/apache/htdocs/pensioners/Sources/ManageBans.php (Line 1392) 
Backtrace information
Type of error: Critical
Error messageSelect
The database value you're trying to insert does not exist: id_ban_group
Function: addTriggers

Today at 02:41:17 AM
Guest
178.159.37.78
2efa88994ce3ba01be4d3495acd76586
https://letschat.club/index.php?action=signup2
/opt/bitnami/apache/htdocs/pensioners/Sources/Subs-Db-mysql.php (Line 783) 
Backtrace information
Type of error: General
Error messageSelect
2: array_combine(): Both parameters should have an equal number of elements

Today at 02:41:17 AM
Guest
178.159.37.78
2efa88994ce3ba01be4d3495acd76586
https://letschat.club/index.php?action=signup2
/opt/bitnami/apache/htdocs/pensioners/Sources/ManageBans.php (Line 1377) 
Backtrace information
Type of error: General
Error messageSelect
2: array_merge(): Expected parameter 2 to be an array, string given

[Mups]

klondike,   what would all these people want with an old people's forum, in the first place?

[klondike]

These are probably just scripts attacking any forum. There will be bots that crawl millions upon millions of websites and sort out which are forums and which software they run on - if you check out the bottom of this site you'll see that in plain text and most other forums will be the same.

The object is to post spam links, political messaging, maybe takeover the server for their own purposes and doubtless other stuff I haven't thought of. Some scripts just try to deface or crash sites for no obvious reason. There were a lot of registrations and I deleted them but not immediately. I assume successful registrations are logged and follow up scripts run later to use those logins as none had been used.

This site isn't being specifically targeted. All websites are targeted by such bots - different scripts for different types of site.

[Mups]

These are probably just scripts attacking any forum. There will be bots that crawl millions upon millions of websites and sort out which are forums and which software they run on - if you check out the bottom of this site you'll see that in plain text and most other forums will be the same.

The object is to post spam links, political messaging, maybe takeover the server for their own purposes and doubtless other stuff I haven't thought of. Some scripts just try to deface or crash sites for no obvious reason. There were a lot of registrations and I deleted them but not immediately. I assume successful registrations are logged and follow up scripts run later to use those logins as none had been used.

This site isn't being specifically targeted. All websites are targeted by such bots - different scripts for different types of site.

Thank you for trying to explain klondike,  although I don't think I've got the brain to understand all this sort of thing  as well as I probably should.     

[Scrumpy]

 

[klondike]

No need to understand any details. Just be aware that the internet is pretty much the Wild West. Just like the B movies there are a lot of bad actors out there. 

[JBR]

Like Mups, I don't have a brain...
er, that is I don't have the ability to even understand what miracles Klon is performing, though I am very grateful to him.

Although I don't understand all the ins and outs, and possible dangers involved, even if some of these people do manage to join the forum, I am sure that we will all be able to decide very quickly what sort of people they are and, if appropriate, simply ignore them.

Such things have happened before elsewhere and those people quickly seem to disappear.

[klondike]

I don't work any miracles I just look at the error logs from time to time. 

[dextrous63]

Could I just add that Mups has definitely got a brain.  It's what she sits on.😬😬

[JBR]

Could I just add that Mups has definitely got a brain.  It's what she sits on.😬😬

I'm sure it's a very pretty brain.

[Mups]

I'm sure it's a very pretty brain.

Dex is about to get yet another slap . .  


And you, JBR,  are going to get a big squashy hug.  . .