Access Blocker Support Thread

[lat9]

This is the support thread for the soon-to-be-published Access Blocker plugin. This drop-in plugin provides some captcha-like blocking of accesses to your store's contact_us, create_account and login pages' processing.

Unlike other captcha-type handling, Access Blocker works behind the scenes to determine whether the IP address, email-address and/or contact-us comments should result in an action (e.g. creating a contact-us message or creating an account) being blocked. The plugin can be configured to use the API provided by https://ipdata.co, which provides additional information associated with an IP address (like its country-of-origin and whether it's been previously reported as a threat).

The plugin has been validated on Zen Cart 1.5.5 and 1.5.6 variants, using the built-in notification points for the possibly-blocked pages. I've been using it on my website for the past couple of months, with a significant drop in spam.

I'll update this thread once I've posted the plugin to the Zen Cart plugins for review.

[lat9]

Once reviewed, here's the plugin's Zen Cart download link: https://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=2237

You can get a sneak peek by downloading from the plugin's GitHub repository: https://github.com/lat9/access_block...ses/tag/v1.0.0

[lat9]

Once reviewed, here's the plugin's Zen Cart download link: https://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=2237

You can get a sneak peek by downloading from the plugin's GitHub repository: https://github.com/lat9/access_block...ses/tag/v1.0.0

That was fast (thanks @swguy!); the plugin is now available for download from its Zen Cart download link.

[chadlly2003]

Will this plugin have any effect on site performance. I installed it and obtained a key. I am not sure though how to know if it is working or not. Is there a way to test it to see if it is actually working

[chadlly2003]

I figured it out

As an example I used https://api.ipdata.co?api-key=XXXXXXXXXXXXX taken from the signup email from ipdata.com.


Though I just installed it and click on my example url it has a count of 450 and rising.

Hmm sees a little too fast if that number is correct.

[chadlly2003]

Well i installed the plugin. 10 minutes later I get a spam email. As mentioned before i obtained the key. Does this module really block spam or is just a means gathering ip's.

I am having a hard time understanding how this plugin is supposed to work