I'm posting because we have a serious problem on our message board with a particular individual. She signs up for new aliases (19 now) and we always know it is her because she uses the same IP address (68.56.209.37). Well, I thought this would be a simple thing if I just added her IP to the IP Ban list under my site-wide settings. Well, she is still around...

Let me give you a little background on our site and its operations:

1. We have an autoresponder service that will send a series of e-mails to our new registrants after they enter a name and an e-mail address.

2. Once we receive their information, we manually set up their 'trial' accounts.

3. The member is then sent their login details via e-mail and logs into our site.

Well, this woman puts in a new address near enough every other day (or once we remove access to her previous accounts). Jim sets up the account from his IP address then sends her registration details to her e-mail address. She then logs in. Is this woman actually able to view our boards through her 'trial account' when her IP is banned site-wide?????

I really wonder because as soon as we remove access to an account...she immediately registers for another? Also, she is on Comcast high-speed, so it is a static IP...

I'd like to know because this is a serious security issue!!!

Thanks!
Wendy Hamilton
http://www.globalgreyhounds.com
management@globalgreyhounds.com

[This message was edited by Stonehaven_lady on July 28, 2003 at 06:51 PM.]

You can have the person banned from the server. But all they would need to do is get a new isp number, since most do not use static IP's.

--
UBBDesign.com:
Installation, upgrades, and custom layouts/themes for ubb.classic ™ & ubbthreads ™ Contact me

some broadband IP's are quasi-static. we've had the same one for months on end. They usually have a 12 hour lease. Get on within 12 hours, or use a router, and you keep the address. Only the most evil of ISPs have less time setup, or steal used IPs back. I don't see the address as the problem. Could be a IP spoofer in some way.

I'd open a trouble ticket.

Hi Wendy et al.,

IP Banning doesn't restrict a user's access to your site. It simply prevents someone with that IP from registering a new user on your site and posting new messages on your site. If you guys are manually doing the registrations for your users, then the situation you've described makes perfect sense. She has full view access as a registered member on your site until you remove her access rights at which point she can no longer view your site. Thus, she re-registers another user. My recommendation in this scenario would be to simply ignore/deny her new registration requests. In your case, the IP banning isn't working for registration since you, the admins, are manually registering the users as opposed to the user doing it on her own.

I hope this helps clear things up! Please let me know if I can be of further assistance

Regards,

Brian Lenz
Infopop Corporation

Thanks everybody....that is what I wanted to know. We have a post-it note with her IP on it by our computer when we new account set-ups. I really like that Geektools.com who-is utility for looking up owners of IP ranges. Has anybody ever tried writing and ISP to complain about one of their users? I'd like to burn these people for wasting our time...

I am having the same problem with a lady continuing to become a new member on my board. Thats why I am posting this. I have tried everything to ban her that is available on the control panle. Banning IP , banning email address. I just dont know else to do. This individual is stalking me personally and taking the time to use my board to do her evil deeds. Let me tell you a cyber stalker can do pretty much what they want to. Even though I have evidence and where I live this state has a cyber stalking law, getting the authorities to do anything about it is impossible. I have contacted the FBi anf all local police departments but no action taken, they keep passing the buck to"its another jurisdictions problem". What this woman does is sign up for a new accoount after I ban her thru a new email account. banning her IP does not work for apparently her ISPhas dynamic IP's and she can sign up for any one of the free email accounts out there. Anybody got any suggestions? Plese help this has been going on for about 6 months. And I have exausted all venues to try and stop her so far, I need some new advice.

editor
www.streettuners.com

<a href="http://www.streettuners.com"><img src="http://www.streettuners.com/featured_tuner/bird_s2000/l_side_3_thmb.jpg"></a>

you know, an irc-like banning style might be worth doing. create a more dynamic system.

such as I always come up as myname@string designating isp current connection. most windows machines hold onto an identification. one user had one for years

you could ban username*@*.isp.net

I'll try that for sure, much thanks. At this point I will try anything.

<a href="http://www.streettuners.com"><img src="http://www.streettuners.com/featured_tuner/bird_s2000/l_side_3_thmb.jpg"></a>

actually, I think this should be support of the opentopic system not as a sugestion for ban protection... should have been more specific.

bans like this would be much more dynamic than a simple IP or email ban. The user would be forced to change systems and/or providers completely to get around an irc-like ban.

add another level of security to the software.

I think simply setting up your board as a completely private forum and requiring a login stops most of the problems

I know that on the UBB.Dev site, there is a mod that bans people based upon a cookie. I don't know if OpenTopic allows you to do this. It stores a cookie on their computer and the board reads it when they try to register. It then denies registration. Of course if they delete their cookies, then they're back in the game, but lets hope this woman isn't smart enough to do that. So perhaps Infopop can give you an idea as to how to do this. Also is she registering the emails with the same domain? IE: newname@samename.com ? If so in UBB.Classic you can ban by domain. I assume that this can be done in OpenTopic too. I don't know though. I just thought I'd try to help.