Online life continues to expand, creating more opportunities for both beneficial and malicious actors. Bot technology is an illustrative example of this rising trend, having now established itself as a dominant source of internet traffic. Recent developments in bot design have resulted in legacy security solutions becoming largely ineffective, prompting the need for more effective and adaptable measures to secure digital properties.
WordPress is full of different options to customize your website. Elementor Page Builder is one of the more widely-used page builders, which offers both a free and paid Pro version. While it is not necessary to possess a Pro version to build a website, the Pro version provides additional built-in features, including the Elementor Form widget. Unfortunately, even with this widget, users are still prone to receiving spam via contact forms. This article will explore the various methods of spam protection for Elementor Forms that we use at Nahnu Cloud for our clients to give a 100% spam-free experience.
Free alternatives
WordPress is full of many free alternatives for anyone on a budget. Honeypot and Google’s reCaptcha are two ways to keep spam out of your inbox.
Elementor Forms has integrated honeypot fields to prevent bots from spamming users’ contact forms. These honeypots are not visible to humans but are detected by bots, which can fill all the fields on a website, including the hidden one. The Elementor Forms widget will dismiss submissions with an entry in the hidden field. While Honeypot is less effective than it used to be, it is still helpful in protecting against unwanted bot activity.
Elementor Forms also features a comprehensive captcha solution, namely Google’s reCaptcha. In response to widespread concerns regarding accessibility and usability, Google has removed the challenge component of reCaptcha in v3. This new version does not require visitors to solve a challenge before submitting forms. Instead, it monitors user behavior on a website and provides a score from 0 (bot) to 1 (human). Although website owners can set their threshold for determining authenticity, this feature is not available in Elementor Forms.
ReCaptcha is a popular solution for protection against automated bots. While it is effective in blocking most bots, more sophisticated bots may be able to bypass it. Additionally, captcha farms have been established where people receive compensation for solving reCaptcha codes. It should be noted that implementing this solution may slow down website loading speeds due to additional JavaScript files being loaded. Despite this, reCaptcha remains a viable, cost-free, and fast security measure.
What we use at Nahnu Cloud
For our clients, we tend to work with privacy-friendly options.
Reliably distinguishing between real people and bots is a critical component of bot protection. hCaptcha has long acknowledged the need for reliable humanity verification, attained by occasionally asking users to answer questions. The Team at hCaptcha works tirelessly to reduce how often users should be challenged. Still, there remains a significant distinction between “a few” challenges and no challenges when detecting malicious activity such as spam, fraud, and abuse.
hCaptcha is an effective tool for reducing friction and improving the user experience. It seamlessly implements simple tasks that take minimal time from legitimate users while stopping a significant amount of bot traffic. hCaptcha is also privacy-focused and complies with GDPR, CCPA, LGPD, PIPL, and other global data laws.
What about human spam?
With websites like 2Captcha, human-based anti-captcha services that help bots to solve Captcha puzzles, there is a need for more spam protection.
This is where OOPSpam comes in.
OOPSpam API is a reliable and private solution for preventing bots and manual spam from reaching customers. Businesses can ensure they don’t miss out on valuable leads by allowing visitors to make contact without having to solve puzzles. OOPSpam API prioritizes blocking spam without compromising the ability for authentic inquiries to be received.
If the above solutions have already been attempted and have yet to produce the desired results, OOPSpam provides a viable alternative. Unlike other services, OOPSpam is effective against human spammers and bots and does not affect site performance, as all operations occur on the server rather than the client’s website. Furthermore, there is no challenge, making it a straightforward solution. The OOPSpam API is a powerful tool that employs machine learning models, content analyses, IP reputation, and other rule-based checks to detect spam in contact form submissions effectively. This comprehensive system of checks produces a single score that accurately identifies and prevents manual and bot-based spam.
A Privacy-friendly with no data stored and no user exploited. OOPSpam is GDPR compliant.
Final thoughts
As websites accrue more traffic, it is increasingly likely that they will attract malicious spammers. While measures such as honeypots and reCaptcha may provide basic levels of security, more than these systems may be needed to prevent targeted spam attacks, manual spam, or sophisticated bots. This article aims to guide effective solutions for tackling the issue of online spam for all our Nahnu Cloud clients.
