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fake accounts
https://www.calcudoku.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1439		 Page 2 of 3
Author:  pnm  [ Sat Jun 25, 2022 3:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: fake accounts
& just did some maintenance,
and deleted 624 bot accounts from Russia.. [glare]
Author:  paulv66  [ Sat Jun 25, 2022 4:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: fake accounts
pnm wrote:
& just did some maintenance,
and deleted 624 bot accounts from Russia.. [glare]


If your site has that many false accounts, there must be an incredible number of such accounts on more well know sites (no insult intended)!

It looks like a total scattergun approach. Unless, of course, it’s related to a number of references to the Ukraine on this site and/or to the fact that a number of us have changed our country affiliation to the Ukraine.

What a world we're living in!
Author:  pnm  [ Sun Oct 30, 2022 2:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: site suffered another DDOS attack
Fake account signups from Russia are steadily increasing, now at about 20 a day, but all being blocked.

(blocked about 2000-2100 so far)

edit: note that of course this bunch may include the odd legitimate signup [mellow]

pnm wrote:
pnm wrote:
Ok, maybe I should not have posted that, because for a few days now
more of these accounts than ever are being created..

[confused]


Nicely visualized by Google
Author:  eclipsegirl  [ Sun Oct 30, 2022 7:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: fake accounts
I am sad this has to be done, but very much appreciate the work you do to keep this place safe.

Thank you [namaste]
Author:  pnm  [ Sat Nov 19, 2022 3:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: fake accounts
Because there also still are actual people from Russia trying to create an account (as opposed to scripts/bots/hackers),
I've added a note to the signup page:

Image

(this roughly translates to "Note that since March 2022 there has been a very large increase in fake accounts created from Russia.
Because of this, new accounts from Russia have been temporarily disabled.")
Author:  pnm  [ Sun Jan 15, 2023 2:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: fake accounts
Many many more fake accounts are being blocked,
about double the number of "CAPTCHA" failures:

Image

After they do get past the CAPTCHA, about 80-100 signup attempts a month from Russia are being blocked
(I guess they're not reading the message).

After people do manage to sign up, about 3 out of every 5 new accounts are fake
(they are easy to spot, as they never solve any puzzles)
(strangely enough, some of these fake accounts log in later, and change their country to a random new one)
Author:  eclipsegirl  [ Tue Jan 17, 2023 9:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: fake accounts
I appreciate the care you take for this site.
Author:  pnm  [ Mon Jul 03, 2023 1:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: fake accounts
Fake account signup rate still high, bot attempts over the past 3 months:

Image

In the same period, a further 648 signups were rejected because they originated from Russia.

Another 104 bot accounts were actually created (they get created but no puzzle is ever solved).
Author:  pnm  [ Fri Jul 21, 2023 10:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: fake accounts
Ok maybe there'll be fewer of these fake signups now:

https://it.slashdot.org/story/23/07/20/ ... -sim-cards

[mellow]
Author:  pnm  [ Fri Aug 11, 2023 5:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: site suffered another DDOS attack
pnm wrote:
I disabled new account signups from Russia a few weeks ago,
but since then fake Russian accounts have been trickling in
from what looks like a compromised network in Sweden [glare]


I'm now getting batches of fake signups from (what I assume to be) compromised computers in Ukraine,
often around 5pm.

Yesterday 5 in a row in short succession. Then the next day the same signups are attempted
with the same account names (!), after which the user country is changed, this time to Eritrea,
Mauritania, Iraq, etc. etc.

(and of course these accounts solve ZERO puzzles [thumbdn])
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