Subj : CAPTCHA with Synchronet
To   : Nightfox
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Tue Feb 28 2023 00:37:00

 Ni> IMO, a good reason to upgrade is at least for the bug fixes.  And it
 Ni> doesn't cost any money to update Synchronet, so I don't think there's
 Ni> any downside to upgrading.  You'd also be missing out on new features
 Ni> if you don't upgrade, but I suppose whether or not you'll use any of
 Ni> those new features is what makes it a "compelling" upgrade or not.

  I'm going to wait until the new version is released...let everyone else
work out the bugs. Back when I was running GT Power for dial-up, I was
one of the beta testers for the last version released by original author
Paul Meiners.

  I did find the original version of the CAPTCHA utility that was done
by Lord Blackfair, which had just one set of 6 numbers, along with the
batchfile that I had previously created (I thought all those files were
long gone as well).

  Bascially, after decompiling it, I made 144 copies of the file, and 
edited in a different number. Then, I named them different batchfiles, 
in 5 minute increments, from HOUR0000.BAT to HOUR2355.BAT, around the
clock. Then, I used the Windows 10 Task Scheduler to set up the batchfiles 
to run at the appointed times. It copies a new ACEMTRX.BIN file (with the 
CAPTCHA code) into the \exec directory every 5 minutes. So, while it does
not change with each connect, at least it changes every 5 minutes. And,
besides, the bots are unlikely to see the CAPTCHA anyway.

  I also lowered the variable for the inactivity timeout from 30 seconds
to 10 seconds. Before I found the original CAPTCHA deal (as noted above),
the bots were slamming the telnet port, tying up all 4 of them. With the
"invalid user names" (root, admin, supervisor, sysop, default, etc.), the
connects with these are dropped, and in many cases, a temporary ban is
put on them. I then add that IP to the ip.can file.

Daryl

.... I found a piano stool -- I thought they were potty trained!!
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