A lot of spams, how to protect OJS?

[Ojser]

Hi,

I notice a lot of spams, ads and malicious visitors.
I'm wondering whether setting permission for all folders and files to minimum (440 or 400) will enhance protection. I've tried to set it for some folders but the website becomes inaccessible or deformed!
So my question is: how to protect journals without compromising the site accessibility?
Is there any specific precaution to take in consideration with OJS?

Thank you

[JasonNugent]

OJSer,

Turn the CAPTCHA plugin on. That is what it is for. It is a setting in your config.inc.php file.

Regards,
Jason

[Ojser]

Thanks Jason, but Captacha is enabled, except for one feature:

[captcha]

; Whether or not to enable Captcha features
captcha = off

; Whether or not to use Captcha on user registration
captcha_on_register = on

; Whether or not to use Captcha on user comments
captcha_on_comments = on

; Whether or not to use Captcha on notification mailing list registration
captcha_on_mailinglist = on

And even after I turned ON all these features, I don't see the CAPTHA code nowhere in the journal pages!
Is there a problem somewhere or it is intended to work in a background way?!

Regards,

[JasonNugent]

you need that first captcha feature. It's the one that turns everything else on.

[Ojser]

you need that first captcha feature. It's the one that turns everything else on.

Sorry Jason, if you mean for the registration page, I've tried it but there is no CAPTCHA code!
I have only a dark zone without any visible letters. Here how it looks like:

Why letters don't appear? I'm using the latest php and apache versions.

[asmecher]

Hi Ojser,

Have you specified a valid path to a font to use? See the [captcha] section:

Code: Select all

; Font location for font to use in Captcha images
font_location = /usr/share/fonts/truetype/freefont/FreeSerif.ttf

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

[Ojser]

Thanks Alec, but which path should be specified?
By default, I have the same path you posted.
I also tried to change the font types by replacing for example "FreeSerif" in the path above with different fonts (NewTimes, Calibri, etc) but nothing changed! I don't see letters !
Is there any specific path other than the default one, to be specified?

Regards,

[JasonNugent]

Hi OJSer,

You'll need to look at your operating system environment on your server to find out where your fonts are stored. There are a few UNIX commands you can run, if you have shell access. These may or may not work in all situations.

Code: Select all

locate *.ttf


That will probably give you a bunch to choose from. You can also try:

Code: Select all

find /usr/share -name "*.ttf"


for others.

Jason

[Ojser]

Thanks Jason!
It works nicely now! I didn't thought that I will need such an approach. I thought it should be self-working without need any extra configuration..
It may need a button to change the code, when it is hard to guess!
However, CAPTCHA code is in general not so efficient against all spammers and robots..
Anyway, my problem is solved in regard to this issue.

Thank you a lot.