Best practices for preventing registration attacks in PHP

Best Practices for PHP Anti-Flash Registration Attacks

With the development of the Internet, registration functions are becoming more and more common in various websites and applications. But at the same time, the registration function has also become an entry point often exploited by attackers. Among them, the most common attack method is the registration and account swiping attack, that is, the attacker makes a large number of registration requests through automated programs, thus occupying server resources and disrupting normal services. To combat this attack, there are some best practices we can adopt to secure our registration functionality.

1. Add anti-human interaction verification

Common registration brushing attacks are characterized by using automated programs to make registration requests. These programs usually complete all registration processes quickly, and It takes a certain amount of time and interaction from real users to complete. Automated registration can be effectively prevented by adding anti-human interaction verification. Entering verification codes, dragging sliders, verifying phone numbers, etc. are all common anti-human interaction verification methods.

For example, Google reCAPTCHA can be used to add verification code verification. First, register an account on the Google reCAPTCHA official website (https://www.google.com/recaptcha/intro/v3.html) and obtain the corresponding API key. Then, embed the reCAPTCHA verification code in the registration page, as shown below:

<script src="https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api.js?render=你的Site Key"></script>
<form method="post" action="register.php">
  <!-- 用户名、密码等注册字段 -->
  <div class="g-recaptcha" data-sitekey="你的Site Key"></div>
  <button type="submit">注册</button>
</form>
<script>
grecaptcha.ready(function() {
  grecaptcha.execute('你的Site Key', {action: 'register'}).then(function(token) {
    // 将token与其他注册数据一起提交到服务器
  });
});
</script>

Verify the reCAPTCHA response on the server side, the sample code is as follows:

<?php
$secretKey = "你的Secret Key";
$response = $_POST['g-recaptcha-response'];
$remoteIp = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];

$url = "https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api/siteverify?secret=".$secretKey."&response=".$response."&remoteip=".$remoteIp;
$response_json = file_get_contents($url);
$response_data = json_decode($response_json, true);

if($response_data['success'] == true) {
  // 验证通过，进行注册操作
  // ...
} else {
  // 验证失败，显示错误信息
  // ...
}
?>

2. Limit registration speed

Another characteristic of registration brushing attacks is that a large number of registration requests are sent continuously in a short period of time. By limiting the registration speed, we can effectively slow down the impact of the attack.

For example, you can record the number of registrations for each IP address in the recent period and limit it. The following is a sample code:

<?php
$ip = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
$time_range = 60; // 限制时间范围（秒）
$max_register = 5; // 最大注册次数

// 从数据库或其他存储方式中获取IP地址相关的注册次数和时间戳
// ...

if($register_count >= $max_register) {
  $remaining_time = $time_range - (time() - $last_register_time);
  die("注册次数过多，请等待".$remaining_time."秒后再尝试。");
}

// 新增注册记录到数据库或其他存储方式
// ...
?>

3. Strong password requirements

One of the purposes of registration brushing attacks is to obtain a large number of user accounts for use in other malicious behaviors. To prevent the use of simple passwords, we can require users to set strong passwords.

For example, we can require that the password is no less than 8 characters long and contains uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, special characters, etc. The following is a sample code:

<?php
$password = $_POST['password'];

if(strlen($password) < 8 || !preg_match('/^(?=.*[a-z])(?=.*[A-Z])(?=.*d)(?=.*[@#$%!^&*()-_=+{}~|/<>?]).*$/', $password)) {
  die("密码太弱，请选择更强的密码。");
}

// 注册用户并保存密码到数据库或其他存储方式
// ...
?>

The above are some best practices for preventing PHP registration attacks. We can choose to use different implementation methods according to specific needs and situations. By adding measures such as anti-human interaction verification, limiting registration speed, and requiring strong passwords, we can effectively improve the security of the registration function and prevent the improper impact of registration swiping attacks on the server.

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