Re^3: CGI Honeypot?

The danger is a bit different. It's not about spam being directed at you, but rather span originating from your machines. The script could be used by a spammer to instruct your mail server to send spam. You might not care so much about the processor time of your servers or the network usage, but you might easily find yourself unable to send email, because your server would get blocked as a source of spam. You might find your whole network blocked, though I believe your internet provider would contact you beforehand.

Your post seems to be a textbook example of the XY Problem. Instead of telling us what the problem is and getting an easy to follow advice you've spent hours (I assume) trying to implement a non-solution. You are making things harder for yourself.

Jenda
Enoch was right!
Enjoy the last years of Rome.

Comment on Re^3: CGI Honeypot?

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Re^4: CGI Honeypot? by Hans Castorp (Sexton) on Jul 21, 2014 at 12:51 UTC
Merci, Jenda, for this explanation. Looks like I definitely need to create new forms, either with a different version of formmail or with php. My problem is this: I need a way to prevent spam submissions of our forms that are processed by cgi scripts. We have other forms that are all in php, and those I have protected with honeypots (and yes, so far that is working). It is my understanding (from my supervisor) that the forms using cgi are complex and therefore need the cgi--can't be done with php? I don't know. All I know is, I've been trying to implement a similar honeypot with cgi and I can't figure out how to do it. And yes, I've spent more than hours on this problem. And no, I'm not a troll. I guess one thing I don't understand is why a complex form can't be processed with php. In particular, the cgi assigns an email address according to what value is chosen from a drop-down menu on the form. Thanks again. Sorry I got a bit heated Saturday.	[reply]

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Re^4: CGI Honeypot?
by Hans Castorp (Sexton) on Jul 21, 2014 at 12:51 UTC

Merci, Jenda, for this explanation. Looks like I definitely need to create new forms, either with a different version of formmail or with php.

My problem is this: I need a way to prevent spam submissions of our forms that are processed by cgi scripts. We have other forms that are all in php, and those I have protected with honeypots (and yes, so far that is working).

It is my understanding (from my supervisor) that the forms using cgi are complex and therefore need the cgi--can't be done with php? I don't know. All I know is, I've been trying to implement a similar honeypot with cgi and I can't figure out how to do it. And yes, I've spent more than hours on this problem. And no, I'm not a troll.

I guess one thing I don't understand is why a complex form can't be processed with php. In particular, the cgi assigns an email address according to what value is chosen from a drop-down menu on the form.

Thanks again. Sorry I got a bit heated Saturday.

[reply]