Project Honey Pot helps you Stop Spammers before they Even SEE your email address!
Also available is a SMF Forum MOD created and maintained by snoopy_virtual to Block Spammers from entering SMF Forums: http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=2155 It WORKS!
Here is the Step by Step guide on how to protect YOUR Forum (ESPECIALLY if you use phpBB2 or phpBB3): How to keep spam bots out of your Forum!
A similar MOD is available for MOST platforms! Http:BL has been implemented on a number of different web servers, content management systems, blogging platforms, and forums. These systems query the http:BL servers for visitors to your site and restrict their access if they are found to be malicious. (Note that version numbers are not always up to date.) http://www.projecthoneypot.org/httpbl_implementations.php
Hey there --
I wanted to let you know about a FREE service called Project Honey Pot. It allows you to track and help catch spammers who harvest email addresses from your web pages. I signed up myself, added honey pots to several of my domains, and think it might be a service you'd find useful. (You never know: there might EVEN be a Honeypot hiding on this very page .... Maybe .... )
Do you Blog? Twitter? Do you post your email address anywhere online? Unless you love the amount of email Spam you are getting, and you want even more Spam, you will want to read the informative tutorial on how to hide your email address from Spammers:
"How to avoid spambots." http://www.projecthoneypot.org/how_to_avoid_spambots.php
They also know that many people who want to help run sites on services that do not allow the installation of software (e.g., Blogger, Typepad, Facebook, etc.). You can still help by including QuickLinks to others users' existing honey pots.
You can learn more and sign up for free by visiting: http://www.projecthoneypot.org
Enjoy!About Project Honey Pot
Project Honey Pot is the first and only distributed system for identifying spammers and the spambots they use to scrape addresses from your website. Using the Project Honey Pot system you can install addresses that are custom-tagged to the time and IP address of a visitor to your site. If one of these addresses begins receiving email we not only can tell that the messages are spam, but also the exact moment when the address was harvested and the IP address that gathered it.
To participate in Project Honey Pot, webmasters need only install the Project Honey Pot software somewhere on their website. We handle the rest automatically distributing addresses and receiving the mail they generate. As a result, we anticipate installing Project Honey Pot should not increase the traffic or load to your website.
We collate, process, and share the data generated by your site with you. We also work with law enforcement authorities to track down and prosecute spammers. Harvesting email addresses from websites is illegal under several anti-spam laws, and the data resulting from Project Honey Pot is critical for finding those breaking the law.
Additionally, we will periodically collate the email messages we receive and share the resulting corpus with anti-spam developers and researchers. The data participants in Project Honey Pot will help to build the next generation of anti-spam software.
Project Honey Pot was created by Unspam Technologies, Inc an anti-spam company with the singular mission of helping design and enforce effective anti-spam laws. We are always looking to partner with top software developers and enforcement authorities. If there is some way we can help you fight spam, please don't hesitate to contact us.
About Project Honey Pot
What is Project Honey Pot?
Project Honey Pot is a distributed network of decoy web pages website administrators can include on their sites in order to gather information about robots, crawlers, and spiders. We collate data on harvesters, spammers, dictionary attackers, and comment spammers. We make this data available to our members in order for them to protect their websites and inboxes.
Why is Project Honey Pot necessary?
Each day, thousands of robots, crawlers, and spiders troll the web. Website administrators have few resources in order to tell whether a visitor to a site is good or malicious. Project Honey Pot was created in order to provide this information to website administrators in order to help them make informed decisions on who to allow onto their sites.
Does joining Project Honey Pot cost anything?
No. There is no cost to join Project Honey Pot. By "no cost" we mean not only no fees, but also no indirect costs from spyware installation or any of the garbage some services try and pull. This is a community-based project to benefit the entire Internet community. If the service is useful to you, and you're in a position to help fund Project Honey Pot, we always welcome donations.
What is a "harvester"?
A harvester is a computer program that surfs the internet looking for email addresses. Harvesting email addresses from the Internet is the primary way spammers build their lists. Harvesters must connect to the Internet through an IP address. Project Honey Pot publishes the list of the top IP addresses used by harvesters.
What is a "spam server"?
A spam server is the computer used by a spammer in order to send messages. A substantial percentage of these computers do not belong to the spammers themselves, but instead are "zombies" compromised by viruses or other malware. Project Honey Pot publishes the list of the top IP addresses used by spam servers.
What is a "dictionary attacker"?
In addition to harvesting, spammers also use a technique known as a dictionary attack in order to find new email addresses. A dictionary attack involves making up a number of email addresses, sending mail to them, and seeing what is delivered. Dictionary attackers typically send to common usernames. A username is the part of the email address before the @ sign. Project Honey Pot publishes a list of the most common usernames dictionary attackers target. Project Honey Pot also publishes the list of the top IP addresses used by dictionary attackers.
What is a "comment spammer"?
Comment spammers do not send email spam. Instead, comment spammers post to blogs and forums. These posts typically include links to sites being promoted by the comment spammer. The purpose of these links is both to drive traffic from humans clicking on the links, as well as to increase search engine rankings which are sometimes based on the number of links to a page. Project Honey Pot publishes a list of the top URLs, domains, and keywords being promoted by comment spammers. Project Honey Pot also publishes a list of the top IP addresses being used by comment spammers.
Are there ways to protect the real email addresses displayed on my site?
The Project Honey Pot spam traps will help you track the robots trying to steal email addresses from your website. You can protect the email addresses you need to display on your site by using some techniques to hide them from these robot email harvesters. To learn more, visit our tutorial on "How to Avoid Spambots."
Can any site add a Project Honey Pot honey pot?
Many can, but not all. Honey pots can be added to most websites that support dynamic content and scripting languages. To install honey pots on your site, you will need the authority to install executable programs on the server hosting your site (e.g., access to the cgi-bin directory). We currently offer direct support for websites built with PHP, Perl, mod_perl, ASP, Python, ColdFusion, SAP Netweaver BSP, and Movable Type (v.2.6+, you can get more information about our MT plugin here). We generally publish our script software under the GPL. If there's a solution we don't support, but you know how to make it work, drop us a line. We are always looking for ways to bring Project Honey Pot to more websites.
I don't have the ability to install software on my site, but I still want to help?
No problem. While we especially value every honey pot that is installed, we know that many people who want to help run sites on services that do not allow the installation of software (e.g., Blogger, Typepad, Facebook, etc.). You can still help by including QuickLinks to others users' existing honey pots.
Read the informative tutorial on how to hide your email address from Spammers: http://www.projecthoneypot.org/how_to_avoid_spambots.php
http://www.projecthoneypot.orgCategories: Stop Spam - End Spam - Fight Spam - Deter Spam -
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