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All Features of CleanTalk

 

CleanTalk - Cloud-Based Anti-Spam Service to Keep Your Site Bot-Free | NewsWatch Review.

 

Anti-Spam Service

 

no spam, stop spamCleanTalk Anti-Spam is a cloud service protection from spam for websites. CleanTalk uses protection methods that are invisible to site visitors. Connection to the service eliminates the need for Captcha, questions and answers and other methods of protection, that complicate the exchange of information on the website.

The main function of CleanTalk is providing the owners and administrators of websites a reliable tool for protecting your web site against spam and spambots. Invisible for visitors, simple and convenient for administrators, CleanTalk blocks 99,998% of the spam. Thanks to its capabilities, CleanTalk surpasses analogs in: the accuracy of spam detection, the speed of the plugin, provides a report about the work of the service and the availability of additional option SpamFireWall.

How does it work?

  1. A visitor writes a comment or registers.
  2. CleanTalk Anti-Spam plugin sends action parameters in cloud service.
  3. The service analyzes the obtained parameters.
  4. If it's a visitor, then the comment is published. If it's a spam bot, then CleanTalk blocks this comment or registering.
  5. The parameters are written to the log, which you can see in the dashboard.

The cost of the license for one website is $12 per year.

The full list of supported CMS with installation instructions is here: https://cleantalk.org/help/install

Akismet vs CleanTalk comparison: https://cleantalk.org/help/cleantalk-vs-akismet

 

45 Day Log

 

Every CleanTalk customer has 7 Day Log by default. It is possible to extend its duration by activating Extra Package for advanced options. It can be done here: https://cleantalk.org/help/extra-package

Your Anti-Spam Log stores every blocked and approved record received from your website. It helps to know the full activity of spambots and real visitors 24/7. It's a powerful tool to monitor your website. Anti-Spam Log page: https://cleantalk.org/my/show_requests?int=week

45 days Log is included in the Extra package, which includes:

  • Keep a history of spam attacks 45 days.
  • Filter posts by stop-word list.
  • Spam filter by country.
  • Editing the server response.
  • Website Access Delegation
  • Website Event Notifications
  • CleanTalk dashboard settings templates

 

 

Blocking Visitors by Country

 

globe

CleanTalk provides 2 different types of blocking users by country:

  • Anti-Spam
  • SpamFireWall

Anti-Spam

Blocking by country using Anti-Spam filtration service allows you to block only comments/registrations on the site from users from certain countries. The site will be available for visitors and they can view it, but will not be able to leave a comment.

How does it work?

  • At the moment when the visitor sends a comment or is logged, the form parameters are sent to the server CleanTalk.
  • The IP address of the visitor is checked for a ban.
  • If the IP address belongs to the country for which the lock is enabled, the visitor will receive a notification.

This option is useful in cases of protection from manual spam and enhances protection. If your website isn't aimed at an international audience, and you don't expect comments/users from other countries. For example, your website is about fishing in Ireland, then there is no need for comments from Asia or Africa and you can block a comment from spam active countries.

SpamFireWall

Blocking traffic by country using Spam FireWall allows you to partially block access to the site for the IP addresses of specific countries. All visitors from the blocked country will be given a special page, while ordinary users will be able to go through it and be able to view the site, comment, and register, but bots will not be able to go through this page. This option is useful because it can significantly reduce the load on the site, since all GET requests will be blocked and the site will not execute scripts for these requests, the blocking page almost does not consume any server resources. It can be used to block brute force attacks, vulnerability scanners, various bots, as well as to temporarily block traffic in some types of DoS attacks, when attackers send thousands of HTTP requests to the site, reduce the likelihood of hacking the site.

You can enable the option in the CleanTalk Dashboard  -> Tools -> Personal lists  or use the link https://cleantalk.org/my/show_private

 

Personal Blacklists

Personal Blacklist Manual: https://cleantalk.org/help/blacklist-usage

Blocking by country is included in the Extra package, which includes:

  • Keep a history of spam attacks 45 days.
  • Filter posts by stop-word list.
  • Spam filter by country.
  • Editing the server response.
  • Website Access Delegation
  • Website Event Notifications
  • CleanTalk dashboard settings templates

 

 

Blocking by Stop-Words

 

dialogYou can block comments containing "stop words" to enhance spam filtering and blocking messages containing obscene words. You can add a certain word or phrase.

How does it work?

For enabling the option, go to your CleanTalk Dashboard —> choose any website and press "Settings" under its name, check the option "Enable Message Filtration Using Stop-Words" and click "Save". Comments containing "Stop-Words" will not be published and will be sent to manual moderation.

Use this guide to get more details about the feature: https://cleantalk.org/help/stop-word

Website options

Personal Blacklist Manual: https://cleantalk.org/help/blacklist-usage

 Stop words dictionary is included in the Extra package, which includes:

  • Keep a history of spam attacks for 45 days.
  • Filter posts by stop-word list.
  • Spam filter by country.
  • Editing the server response.
  • Website Access Delegation
  • Website Event Notifications
  • CleanTalk dashboard settings templates

 

 

Blocking by Language

 

Spam spreads not only in English. Many spam messages are written in Chinese, Arabic, Japanese or Korean languages.

If your website isn't aimed for an international audience and you don't expect comments/users in other languages. For example, your website is about fishing in Ireland and you don't want to have comments in the Chinese language.

We added a new filter to block comments/messages by languages. It allows you to block comments and messages in other languages automatically according to your blacklist.

At the moment, the Language Filter has the following entries:

  • Chinese
  • Korean
  • Japanese
  • Hindi
  • Arabic
  • Cyrillic
  • Indonesian

This option is useful in cases of manual spam and to enhance your website protection in general.

CleanTalk informs you how to manage your personal black/white lists at the first opportunity. You can view, add and delete filters in your Control Panel: Anti-Spam Dashboard —> Personal Lists or use the direct link: [ https://cleantalk.org/my/show_private ].

Personal Blacklist Manual: https://cleantalk.org/help/blacklist-usage

 

 

Editing the CleanTalk Server Response

 

serverThis option modifies the default service message about blocked comments/registration to your text. It's necessary in those cases when you need to specify contacts for the administration of the website if you accidentally blocked a message from the user.

The option can be enabled in the settings of a website, in the dashboard -> Select a site and go to settings. Or you can use this link https://cleantalk.org/my/service?action=edit

Website options 2

 Editing the server's response is included in the Extra package, which includes:

  • Keep a history of spam attacks for 45 days.
  • Filter posts by stop-word list.
  • Spam filter by country.
  • Editing the server response.
  • Website Access Delegation
  • Website Event Notifications
  • CleanTalk dashboard settings templates

 

 

Website Event Notifications

 

Do you want to know of every event that happened on your website because of your visitors? We can help you with that. Now there is a possibility to receive notification letters to your inbox or directly to the URL (a JSON call) you have pointed out.

You can read more here.

Website Event Notifications are included in the Extra package, which includes:

  • Keep a history of spam attacks for 45 days.
  • Filter posts by stop-word list.
  • Spam filter by country.
  • Editing the server response.
  • Website Access Delegation
  • Website Event Notifications
  • CleanTalk dashboard settings templates

 

 

CleanTalk dashboard and plugin settings templates

 

Dashboard and plugin settings templates are available now. You can save/restore/clone settings on your websites. For the WordPress plugin, we've added the possibility to save your plugin's settings in CleanTalk Cloud. Then you can restore them from the template on any of your websites. You can also reset settings to default. This feature may be useful if you want to keep settings after complete deactivation or clone settings between a few websites.

You can read more about the CleanTalk Dashboard templates here.

You can read more about the CleanTalk Plugin Settings templates here.

CleanTalk dashboard and plugin settings templates are included in the Extra package, which includes:

  • Keep a history of spam attacks for 45 days.
  • Filter posts by stop-word list.
  • Spam filter by country.
  • Editing the server response.
  • Website Access Delegation
  • Website Event Notifications
  • CleanTalk dashboard settings templates

 

 

Personal Black and White Lists for the Anti-Spam Service

 

listAutomatically blocks comments, user registration from your personal blacklist list of IP/email addresses. The option helps to increase the protection from a manual spam or block unwanted comments from users.

You can add the record in Black/White lists on the page Anti-Spam statistics in dashboard https://cleantalk.org/my/show_requests?int=week. Just mark the record as "Spam" or "Not spam" and the IP/email will be added to your blacklist or whitelist. If you delete the record, then CleanTalk checks it as usual.

Antispam log

Personal Blacklist Manual: https://cleantalk.org/help/blacklist-usage

 

 

Spam FireWall

 

firewallAn additional option in the Anti-Spam plugin, blocks access to the web site with spam active IP addresses (Blocks Get requests). Spambots are blocked before they get access to the website, it prevents the loading of pages of a website spam bots, so your web server doesn't need to run all the scripts on these pages. This can reduce the load on the database and web server.

Spam FireWall is fully compatible with the most popular VPN services. Also, Spam FireWall supports all search engines Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, MSN, Yandex and etc.

How does it work?

  • The user visits the website.
  • The data of the HTTP request are checked in a database containing records on more than 5,8 million IP spambots.
  • If the IP is contained in the database spambots then the Anti-Spam plugin shows a special page. Nothing happens to legitimate users - protection works invisibly. If the request was from an ordinary visitor, then 3 seconds later, he will be redirected to the website.
  • All information about the process is stored in the database and available in the dashboard.

SpamFireWall

 

Spam FireWall can be enabled in the plugin settings. Spam FireWall is available for WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Bitrix, SMF, phpBB, MediaWiki, IPS Community Suite.

 

 

Personal Black Lists for SpamFireWall

 

It allows you to add to the lists SpamFireWall individual IP addresses and subnets. To block attacks with the IP addresses are not yet included in the SFW base. This option can help to block HTTP / HTTPS DDoS attacks, SQL attacks, brute force attacks and any other attacks that are made through the HTTP / HTTPS.

CleanTalk records all requests blocked SpamFireWall, and you can view statistics in the dashboard.

Spam FireWall and blacklists are free options and included in the cost of anti-spam service.

Personal Blacklist Manual: https://cleantalk.org/help/blacklist-usage

 

Website Access Delegation in Your CleanTalk Control Panel

 

It's possible to share your website in the CleanTalk Control Panel with your webmasters. Activation of the Extra Package is required for it. You can activate it here: https://cleantalk.org/help/extra-package

There are two types of access rights available — Read and Read+Write. The detailed guide on how to delegate your websites is here: https://cleantalk.org/help/delegation

Website Access Delegation is included in the Extra package, which includes:

  • Keep a history of spam attacks 45 days.
  • Filter posts by stop-word list.
  • Spam filter by country.
  • Editing the server response.
  • Website Access Delegation
  • Website Event Notifications
  • CleanTalk dashboard settings templates

 

 

Checking For Spam in Existing Users And Comments

 

In the CleanTalk Anti-Spam plugin, we added a filtering service of checking existing users and comments for spam. These features can help to clean the website from existing spam. Options are available in plugins for WordPress, Joomla, phpBB 3.1 - 3.2, SMF, IPS. When the spam checking starts the Anti-Spam plugin collects the next information about users and comments:

- IP address

- email

- Date

Next, the status of IP and email in the CleanTalk database are checked on the date of comment or registration (here some differences are possible with the API methods, which are doing checks all time). All the spam users and comments found will be shown in a list. You can choose records to delete or delete all records.

Also, you can check bbPress topics using a special addon named CleanTalk bbPress topic scanner.        

You can read more here: https://cleantalk.org/help/users-check

 

Real-Time Email Address Existence Validation

What does the response *** Forbidden. EMAIL_ADDRESS: Email does not exist. *** mean?

What does the response *** Forbidden. EMAIL_ADDRESS: Mail domain for disposable emails. *** mean?

 

It is very important to be sure that the user used his real email address. Spambots very often use fake email addresses, i.e. which addresses do not exist. Non-existing email addresses also entail several other problems for website owners:

 

  • You can never contact them by email,
  • The client will never receive any notifications from you (account activation letter, password recovery, email distribution, notifications, etc.),
  • If you use email marketing for your clients, then a large number of nonexistent emails in the mailing list may result in your IP address being added to various blacklists of email servers.

 

CleanTalk will check email addresses for existence in real-time.

  

Filtering Disposable & Temporary Emails

Block fake and suspicious users with disposable & temporary emails to improve email delivery. So, it also prevents malicious activity, spam bots, and internet trolls.

 

Anti-Flood and Anti-Crawler

Anti-Flood and Anti-Crawler options are intended for blocking unwanted bots, content parsing, shop goods prices parsing or aggressive website scanning bots.
Read more here: https://cleantalk.org/help/anti-flood-and-anti-crawler
How to manage your Private list by User-Agents: https://cleantalk.org/help/filter-ua

 

Automatic Plugin Update

 

Your CleanTalk Dashboard allows you to select several websites and update the CleanTalk Anti-Spam Plugin at once by one click. You can set up auto-update for separate websites as well.

This feature is highly convenient for customers with a long list of added websites. It will save you time and effort.

 

Note: The auto-Update feature is available only for WordPress websites.

  

You can read more here: https://cleantalk.org/help/cleantalk-auto-update

 

Security & Firewall for WordPress

 

Security FireWall by CleanTalk will protect your WordPress website against Brute force hacks. The plugin is effective — it doesn't load the server, doesn't inquire the database and doesn't create any tables. It doesn't put anything in ".htaccess" as it could have a negative effect on your website accessibility or block the access to the Administrator profile.

The plugin takes optimal delay time between login attempts when a user corrects his credentials and tries to log in again. These seconds are more than enough for a user. If a user didn't make it in time — he can always retry and the delayed time will be nullified.

Every day the plugin sends a Security report to your email. The report provides data on the number of incorrect password entries and the IP addresses from which the tried to sign in. Also, the Security Audit Log keeps track of actions in the WP Dashboard to let you know what is happening on your blog.

List of features of the Security & Firewall Plugin by CleanTalk:

  • Brute-force Protection
  • Website Firewall
  • Country Blocking
  • Login Attempts and Password Searching Log
  • User Actions Log (Audit)
  • Security Report
  • Notifications of administrator users authorizations
  • CleanTalk Database of Dangerous IP Addresses
  • Real-time traffic monitor
  • Malware Scanner
  • Web Application FireWall
  • Quarantine Option
  • Backend PHP logs
  • Two-Factor Authentication
  • Malware Auto-Cure
  • Custom wp-login URL
  • 2FA: Two-Factor Authentication
  • Change WordPress security keys and salts
  • File System Watcher
  • Important File Monitoring

More details about Security Firewall features: https://cleantalk.org/help/security-features

You can download Security & Firewall by CleanTalk here: https://wordpress.org/plugins/security-malware-firewall/

 

SSL Certificates

 

CleanTalk offers you PositiveSSL Certificates to use on your website. It will greatly increase your website security by encrypting transferred data and improve your website in Google Rank System. It's an essential technology for every modern website which strives to be better.

More information is here:

What is SSL: https://cleantalk.org/help/what-is-ssl

How to install SSL Certificate: https://cleantalk.org/help/install-ssl-certificate

How to switch from HTTP to HTTPS: https://cleantalk.org/help/ssl-how-to-switch-from-http-to-https

 

Bulk check of IP and mail addresses 

 

CleanTalk provides the ability to check IP and Email addresses for spam in bulk.

You can use the interface on our website for checking.

The guide is here: https://cleantalk.org/help/bulk-check-ip-email 

Or use the spam_check method.

To use this service, you need to purchase a Blacklists Database package. 

 

Offline Blacklist Database

 

Database of spam-active IP and mail addresses CleanTalk allows you to download a blacklist database, which contains all IP and Email addresses that have the BlackListed status at the moment.

Offline BlackList Database is included in the Blacklist Database package. You can use both the spam_check API method and download files with spam-active addresses for use in your applications or firewall.

Packages are categorized by spam activity level and are available in two formats CSV and IPSET.

To download the CleanTalk blacklist database, use this tutorial: https://cleantalk.org/blacklists#dl

 

CleanTalk Website Uptime Monitoring

 

The CleanTalk Website Uptime Monitoring service is designed to monitor the operation of websites 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The service will inform you when your site becomes unavailable, how long it was unavailable, and when access to the site was restored.

The service also tracks the loading time of website pages.

Use this guide to connect to the CleanTalk Website Uptime Monitoring service: https://cleantalk.org/help/uptime-monitoring-how-to-connect 

 

If you haven't found the answer to your question, please, contact our support team. [ https://cleantalk.org/my/support/open ].

 

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