VirtueMart Forum

VirtueMart 2 + 3 + 4 => Administration & Configuration => Topic started by: fastpat27 on January 13, 2015, 23:02:44 PM

Title: Some Kind of Captcha on Registration page
Post by: fastpat27 on January 13, 2015, 23:02:44 PM
Hi All

I see a lot of topics on ReCaptcha for VM 2 but no-one seems to find a reliable solution. I am asking this now of VM3 as we move forward but has it ever been solved? Some may ask is it needed, but some do. Has anyone any solutions or suggestions? I don't mind paying for a commercial extension providing it works and of course is a reasonable price.

PS I'm looking it for the registration page to cut the number of bots

Thank for any help
FP
Title: Re: Some Kind of Captcha on Registration page
Post by: fastpat27 on January 17, 2015, 16:22:26 PM
Is this not possible then? Can virtuemart not have a reliable captcha solution?
Title: Re: Some Kind of Captcha on Registration page
Post by: GJC Web Design on January 17, 2015, 16:34:04 PM
this might interest you from Google

However, our research recently showed that today's Artificial Intelligence technology can solve even the most difficult variant of distorted text at 99.8% accuracy. Thus distorted text, on its own, is no longer a dependable test.

http://googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.be/2014/12/are-you-robot-introducing-no-captcha.html

If a client insists on a captcha (and they must really insist - I run dozens of websites and all "false" registers are spammers  - i.e humans) I do the hidden input field - if filled reject check - but needs some coding
Title: Re: Some Kind of Captcha on Registration page
Post by: jenkinhill on January 17, 2015, 17:17:41 PM
ReCaptcha support was introduced into VM2 a long time back - possibly around 2.0.16 - to use the Joomla ReCaptcha plugin for Ask a Question and Recommend to a friend. Switch is "Use ReCaptcha for recommendation and ask a question" in Configuration/Shopfront

There is no code for ReCaptcha in the VM registration form as that always has additional required fields, such as address, so unlike Joomla's registration module, it is not susceptible to bots.

As ReCaptcha is no longer a problem for sophisticated bots the bg G is rolling out the "I am not a bot" checkbox system.
Title: Re: Some Kind of Captcha on Registration page
Post by: fastpat27 on January 17, 2015, 21:14:55 PM
Quote from: jenkinhill on January 17, 2015, 17:17:41 PM
the bg G is rolling out the "I am not a bot" checkbox system.

Hi Jenkinhill, I appreciate the response, thanks. Can you explain more on this, is it rolled out yet, if so how do i get it and integrate it?

Also not sure what you mean by "the VM registration form as that always has additional required fields, such as address, so unlike Joomla's registration module, it is not susceptible to bots", surely because it is a form makes it susceptible to bots, or am I missing something. I get a lot of bogus sign ups  via the virtuemart registration which I can only assume are bots.

Thanks
FP
Title: Re: Some Kind of Captcha on Registration page
Post by: jjk on January 17, 2015, 22:43:04 PM
I'm using a mixture of 'EasyCalcCheck Plus' and 'SpambotCheck' which works pretty well (without unreadable re-captcha). You can find both in the Joomla extension directory. If you get a lot of bogus registrations, you may take a note of the registration date/time and search for that in your server access log. You can check the suspicious ip addresses in a whois lookup and eventually block individual or a complete range of ip addresses in your .htaccess file.

If you use one of the extensions mentioned above, make shure you test all your forms. I remember that I once had a problem with ECC+ clearing the BillTo address in the VM checkout form when the customer clicked 'Save'.