www.audio-circuit.dk download site bandwidth spam - Help needed

[Jan Dupont]

Then it happened again

Back in october 2008 I was kicked out by my former webhoster due to bandwidth spam on my free Schematic and Service Manual download site performed by some *:;>/% idiots in the Far East and USA.

I moved my site to new hoster, which gave me the possibillity to deny access from selected IP addresses. Since then I almost once a week had to add further one or two IP address areas to the deny list.....

Now I just got a final warning from my current hosting service !!!
Several bandwidth spammers in different IP areas are pulling tons of GB downloads every day. I could just add them to the IP deny list, but this sadly also affects normal download users in those areas. If this continues I will end up with a free download site only accessable from my local area IP area. This was NOT the intention with my site

Is there someone who can help me setup some kind of password protection on my PHP download sites ??

If problem is not solved within 5 days, I sadly have to close my free download service and make it commercial (sending schematic and manuals by email). I don't want's this to happen.....

Any help appreciated.

 

[Geek]

Hi,

Give this a try: AutoIndex PHP Script (Website Directory Indexer)

Give uploading priviledges only to those you trust

Cheers!

 

[Jan Dupont]

Thanks Geek,

However having many 1000 normal different download users every month, it's not possible to grant access to every one.......

 

[es44]

Hi Jan.

Sorry to hear this. If it's not possible to limit the acces from those fools, it will be a great loss for a lot of us.
Isn't it possible to form some kind of "forum", where people have to log in before having access to the download area ?
Sorry, i'm not experienced in setting up such things, it's just a thought.

All the best, and good luck
Ebbe

 

[Jan Dupont]

Thanks Ebbe,

I'm not a shark on advanced websites and know nothing about setting up forums etc.
That's why I'm asking for help here....
I really want my free download site to be up, however limited time and knowledge may result in the site being down for ever if someone doesn't come to rescue

 

[Khron]

Would it be terribly complicated (or expensive?) to implement some sort of Captcha "human confirmation" thing?

 

[Jan Dupont]

Hi Khron,

No I don't think so. However I do not know how to implement Captca's......

 

[godfrey]

Hi Jan

Maybe it's robots rather than humans.
If so, you need one of those arrangements where one has to recognize a picture before proceeding.

If it's humans, you could try slow them down a bit e.g. by having to click through a few pages to get to each download. (irritating, though)

Another approach is to limit downloads per user. e.g. record IP addresses of downloaders and don't allow another download from the same IP within an hour of the previous download.

Maybe something similar could be achieved with cookies to avoid saving stuff on the server?

Regards - Godfrey

 

[Jan Dupont]

Hi godfrey,

I surely thinks it robots or someone who wrote a script...
Thanks for the ideas, however I need help from someone who can implement a solution, as I have no knowledge on how to do that.......

 

[Jason]

My suggestion if you want to keep it hosted yourself would be to just put a simple "htaccess" password on the directory and require people to email you for the password - that way you can control who gets access and change the password every so often.

If there's no copyright issues we could host them on diyaudio - we have plenty of spare bandwidth and processing power, and can easily require downloads to be performed by members only.

 

[wintermute]

Hi Jan,

I'm not 100% clear on what the bandwidth they are using is... Are they using your site to send out spam from? or are they storing stuff on your site (hacking in maybe) and others are downloading it resulting in excessive bandwidth, or is it just that they are continually downloading your content over and over again again blowing your bandwidth budget?

Depending on which it is (or something else) there will be different methods to try and stop it.

I'm not sure if I will be able to assist, but knowing the problem in more detail will make it more likely

Tony.

 

[gaetan8888]

Hello Jan

Here is a page about how captcha work and how to do it.

How to use captcha, understand, use and implement captcha, to protect your website against spam and form spamming, and captcha explained

If you don't want to do or can't do a captcha, Jason's suggestion, hosting them on diyaudio, are a very good ideas.

Bye

Gaetan

 

[Jan Dupont]

Wintermute;

I'm not 100% clear on what the bandwidth they are using is... Are they using your site to send out spam from? or are they storing stuff on your site (hacking in maybe) and others are downloading it resulting in excessive bandwidth, or is it just that they are continually downloading your content over and over again again blowing your bandwidth budget?

Maybe I wasn't clear. As they did last time, they make continius downloads of all files in the list over and over again......

Jason;

My suggestion if you want to keep it hosted yourself would be to just put a simple "htaccess" password on the directory and require people to email you for the password - that way you can control who gets access and change the password every so often.

Same time consuming problem. With over 1000 users every month, I don't have the possibillity to grant access to each and everyone....

If there's no copyright issues we could host them on diyaudio - we have plenty of spare bandwidth and processing power, and can easily require downloads to be performed by members only.

Thanks Jason. I have never had a copyright issue with my site. Thanks for your kind offer, however even though I like this forum very much, I would also like the files to be accessable for non-members.

gaetan8888;
Thanks. I will study your link when I got time

 

[Jason]

Put them on rapidshare on any of the myriad filesharing sites perhaps? It's hard to comment further without a detailed analysis of the problem - where the traffic is coming from, what it's downloading, and what the patterns are... referral urls? user agents? motivation for a possible "attack"? is it just google and co downloading everything to archive it?

 

[john-china]

you can put your files on the skydriver of MSN and share them out.
you just only need a hotmail account for microsoft net service.

 

[h_a]

Jan, sorry to hear this.

Though I have no real idea to help you, I would like to say thanks a lot for your kind service. I use it often.

Have fun, Hannes

 

[Jan Dupont]

Thanks Hannes

 

[burbeck]

hi Jan
like Hannes, i to am sorry to here about your troubles, i have made use of your site a few times, it would be a shame if you had to close it down.
i have no idea how to help you, good luck.

 

[Jan Dupont]

Thanks burbeck.

There might be light ahead
My greek friend sakis (diyaudio member) is trying to put a solution together for my website, which will prevent this from happening again

 

[chris661]

The bit I don't understand is why anyone would bother doing such a thing...
It's a website to help people with audio, so why would anyone want anything against it?
I can understand, as a speaker manufacturer, you'd be a little annoyed at people not buying their speakers, but surely not annoyed enough to have a website taken down by force...