[webkit-dev] Bugzilla spammers are changing tactics

[Adrien Destugues]

Le lundi 17 février 2025 15:26:45 (+01:00), Michael Catanzaro via webkit-dev a écrit :

> Hi,
> 
> For a couple months now, Bugzilla spammers have changed tactics and are now leaving (possibly AI-generated?) comments without any obvious spam links, e.g.:
> 
> https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=192753#c31
> 
> The spam comment will look somewhat related to the content of the bug report, but won't actually contribute to the discussion. The purpose of these spam comments is unclear since without links there can be no SEO spam. Maybe they think it helps them build reputation to avoid us removing their future comments that will actually include links? Whatever. This is a heads-up to be on the lookout for the new strange type of spam.

On other bugtrackers we have found similar behavior, with the bot coming back later to edit the comment and add links. Sometimes editing old posts does not trigger as much notifications, and this can go unnoticed.

We suspect that our bugtracker is targetted because, while we delete the spam comments pretty quickly, all comments are sent to a mailing list, which is publicly archived. So that makes it a target worth some efforts for the spammer. I don't know if there are similar archives for WebKit Bugzilla that could explain why it is targeted as well.

Good luck fighting with the spammers,
-- 
Adrien / PulkoMandy