Comment Form Hacked

  • Resolved searts

    (@searts)


    2 months, 2 weeks ago

    Hi. We have a “Contact” link at the top of our home page that leads to a form. I think it’s been hacked or infected because floods of nonsensical comments have been coming into our mailbox, and the “senders’ have ridiculous made-up names like “Tupgoony Tupgoony.” All the comments get sent to our main email box and every day I find it full of this stupid junk. Is there a way I can prevent this without spending any money? (We’re a non-profit organization on a shoestring budget.) Any help is appreciated. Thanks. — Clare Higgins

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • catacaustic

    (@catacaustic)

    2 months, 2 weeks ago

    It’s not hacked. What you are seeing is “normal” email form SPAM submissions. I’ve seen sites that have had 100’s a day. Once the bots find your form, they just keep on hitting it to send you SPAM messages.

    You should look at an anti-SPAM plugin. From a qick search, these are some options:

    https://ww.wp.xz.cn/plugins/cleantalk-spam-protect/
    https://ww.wp.xz.cn/plugins/zero-spam/

    From your site I can see that you’re using Gravity Forms, and there is a more dedicated plugin just for that – https://ww.wp.xz.cn/plugins/gravity-forms-zero-spam/

    Thread Starter searts

    (@searts)

    2 months, 2 weeks ago

    I just installed it. Thank you so much. Tomorrow morning I’ll check my mailbox and hopefully won’t see any more of this lunacy.

    Clare

    Thread Starter searts

    (@searts)

    2 months, 1 week ago

    It’s now 10:45 AM EST, and there are no loony messages in our mailbox. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

    Clare

    catacaustic

    (@catacaustic)

    2 months, 1 week ago

    Good to see that it’s working. 🙂

    Just remember to have a look hrough the ‘Spam’ entries for that form in Gravity Forms to see if there’s been any false-positives blocked. That can happen sometimes, especially in the early stages of using the plugin, so it’s worth keeping an eye on things.

    Thread Starter searts

    (@searts)

    2 months, 1 week ago

    Great advice! Will do! Thanks again. — Clare

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

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