Security check !

[NoelSmith]

OK A security check to ensure I am not a bot when I sign on is perfectly acceptable.
However is it really necessary for it to activate a check every time I post a reply in a thread?

[Stokesy44]

OK A security check to ensure I am not a bot when I sign on is perfectly acceptable.
However is it really necessary for it to activate a check every time I post a reply in a thread?

Hi Noel

It should only do it if the system times you out, not every time you make an reply. BFRD, our Teck guy should confirm.

[Twokidsnosleep]

OK A security check to ensure I am not a bot when I sign on is perfectly acceptable.
However is it really necessary for it to activate a check every time I post a reply in a thread?

K so there is rampant online tampering going on with websites.
Matthew just did an entire name change and host change and didn't lose a thing and protected us.
Scale Model Shipworld’s entire content was deleted out completely just for someones's idea of fun

A few seconds for a scan is not a big deal

[digger303]

That has happened to me, when I have a few tabs open and reading through the posts and time ticks by.
It is a bit of a pain, but circumstances have made it necessary.
I have since noticed other websites employing the same technique to protect themselves where a month ago they didn't.
Something has changed out in there in the hackers world....maybe Ai.
We are damn lucky to have someone of Mathews knowledge and skill level to have fought the good fight and protected the site.

[Twokidsnosleep]

That has happened to me, when I have a few tabs open and reading through the posts and time ticks by.
It is a bit of a pain, but circumstances have made it necessary.
I have since noticed other websites employing the same technique to protect themselves where a month ago they didn't.
Something has changed out in there in the hackers world....maybe Ai.
We are damn lucky to have someone of Mathews knowledge and skill level to have fought the good fight and protected the site.

Yes now that we did this I see way more 'checking to see you aren't a robot' security precautions and understand them.
It is everywhere.

[Stokesy44]

Yes now that we did this I see way more 'checking to see you aren't a robot' security precautions and understand them.
It is everywhere.

My sister does it to me when I phone her up.

[digger303]

Yes now that we did this I see way more 'checking to see you aren't a robot' security precautions and understand them.
It is everywhere.

My sister does it to me when I phone her up.

[Portman]

It's all part of the modern AI world we live in sadly. My wife's website is constantly being scanned by AI bots, sometimes up to 3000 at once, all out stealing her original material. I think it's be the death of legitimate content creators on the internet in the future - who're sick of having their content and IP stolen.

[bfrd]

So, just to chime in for a couple of points.

1) We tried *many* other avenues to prevent bots from taking down the site. I absolutely didn't do this first. I chose to enable this feature because I had no other reasonable options.

2) I do not have any control over how restrictive the security check is carried out. It is either on or off. I believe there is an activity token that is triggered when the last page event occurs. So that if a user browses to a topic, spends a long-ish amount of time reading, and then sends a quick reply. It is certainly possible that enough time has elapsed that triggers another check. Please keep in mind that anything done to make the security check less invasive will only be exploited by those who created the need for it in the first place.

I am not opposed to turning the feature off and seeing if the problem persists, but I wouldn't expect it to be any different. Without this protection, we will be swarmed by bots within a few minutes, and after an hour or so, they will cause the site to shut down. Adding more resources will change the timing, but not the end result.

I am open to other suggestions if anyone has any.

[digger303]

So, just to chime in for a couple of points.

1) We tried *many* other avenues to prevent bots from taking down the site. I absolutely didn't do this first. I chose to enable this feature because I had no other reasonable options.

2) I do not have any control over how restrictive the security check is carried out. It is either on or off. I believe there is an activity token that is triggered when the last page event occurs. So that if a user browses to a topic, spends a long-ish amount of time reading, and then sends a quick reply. It is certainly possible that enough time has elapsed that triggers another check. Please keep in mind that anything done to make the security check less invasive will only be exploited by those who created the need for it in the first place.

I am not opposed to turning the feature off and seeing if the problem persists, but I wouldn't expect it to be any different. Without this protection, we will be swarmed by bots within a few minutes, and after an hour or so, they will cause the site to shut down. Adding more resources will change the timing, but not the end result.

I am open to other suggestions if anyone has any.

The inconvenience is worth it for what it protects. I have no complaints at all , just disappointed we have to because of the AO's in the world.
If you weren't defending and maintaining the site we would be without the forum forever I think.

[Stokesy44]

In Bfrd we trust

[digger303]

In Bfrd we trust

Yep, I'm a babe in the woods when confronted with this tech stuff.

[RangerNeil]

Whats needed is a system that sends a couple of thousand volts and a few hundred amps down the line to the hackers.

[digger303]

Whats needed is a system that sends a couple of thousand volts and a few hundred amps down the line to the hackers.

Now your thinking like me

[Stokesy44]

Whats needed is a system that sends a couple of thousand volts and a few hundred amps down the line to the hackers.

Now your thinking like me

Wasn't there something like that in Robocop back in the 80s? Guy gets electrocuted when trying to steal a car.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Whats needed is a system that sends a couple of thousand volts and a few hundred amps down the line to the hackers.

Now your thinking like me

I am for this as well

[NoelSmith]

Thanks for the responses guys .

[RangerNeil]

Whats needed is a system that sends a couple of thousand volts and a few hundred amps down the line to the hackers.

Now your thinking like me

Wasn't there something like that in Robocop back in the 80s? Guy gets electrocuted when trying to steal a car.

Funny you should mention that - We used to have a South African guy in the Regiment who was a veteran of the SADF and legged it it when they tried to re-conscript him (he used to fly Wessex and they were short of pilits at the tine) Anyways one of his favourite tales was car theft was endemic in Jo'burg and one of his mates had 3 brand new cars nicked off his drive in a month so the 4th came home via a specialised body shop. He also paid the local witchdoctor to proclaim a curse on anyone stealing from that property. Thieves being thieves they laughed at the curse markers and 2 nights after the car arrived in the drive they tried stealing it. BIG mistake. An LPG tank in the boot was piped up via an electrically operated, timed, fully on/fully off valve, to a pump, a 1 way valve, an igniter and a series of nozzles just below the sills. When thieves opened a door the interior light came on - only now it was wired to a set of solenoids all controlled by a remote on/off like the alarm so as soon as the interior light energised if the system was armed the on/off valve went to on, the pump kicked in and the igniters did what they always do resulting, effectively, in flame throwers with jets about 2 to 3 feet in length along both sides of the car for a few seconds. The two thieves stood beside the vehice got their lower legs cooked and were on the floor screaming whilst their 2 buddies in the getaway car suddenly got a really bad case of local religion and sang like canaries to the police enabling the local car theft ring to be rolled up.
I can remember thinking at the time " nice idea - but what happens if you've had a few beers and forget to deactivate the system when you go to drive home. Be hell of a way to sober up." Not, of course, that I would have driven after a few beers myself back then..... More like many..... BAOR had the rep of being the fittest alcoholics in the Armys history...

[Stokesy44]

Now your thinking like me

Wasn't there something like that in Robocop back in the 80s? Guy gets electrocuted when trying to steal a car.

Funny you should mention that - We used to have a South African guy in the Regiment who was a veteran of the SADF and legged it it when they tried to re-conscript him (he used to fly Wessex and they were short of pilits at the tine) Anyways one of his favourite tales was car theft was endemic in Jo'burg and one of his mates had 3 brand new cars nicked off his drive in a month so the 4th came home via a specialised body shop. He also paid the local witchdoctor to proclaim a curse on anyone stealing from that property. Thieves being thieves they laughed at the curse markers and 2 nights after the car arrived in the drive they tried stealing it. BIG mistake. An LPG tank in the boot was piped up via an electrically operated, timed, fully on/fully off valve, to a pump, a 1 way valve, an igniter and a series of nozzles just below the sills. When thieves opened a door the interior light came on - only now it was wired to a set of solenoids all controlled by a remote on/off like the alarm so as soon as the interior light energised if the system was armed the on/off valve went to on, the pump kicked in and the igniters did what they always do resulting, effectively, in flame throwers with jets about 2 to 3 feet in length along both sides of the car for a few seconds. The two thieves stood beside the vehice got their lower legs cooked and were on the floor screaming whilst their 2 buddies in the getaway car suddenly got a really bad case of local religion and sang like canaries to the police enabling the local car theft ring to be rolled up.
I can remember thinking at the time " nice idea - but what happens if you've had a few beers and forget to deactivate the system when you go to drive home. Be hell of a way to sober up." Not, of course, that I would have driven after a few beers myself back then..... More like many..... BAOR had the rep of being the fittest alcoholics in the Armys history...

Beautiful. Perfect example of FAFO

Or as an intel offer once described their anti-terror tactics - Big boys games, big boys rules.

[Portman]

Years ago I was walking along the towpath at Stoke Bruerne canal museum when I saw the local blacksmith crawling out of the side window of the stone hut he used to work from. When I asked him what he was up do he said he was just 'arming his security device'. I can't fully remember if it was a bird scaring charge or a baked bean tin full of gunpowder, but he basically had it set over the front door on a wire, ready to go bang over the heads of anyone that forced the door. He also had an agreement with the local gamekeeper, who would turn up armed if he heard said load bang - top bloke.