Quick checks and lightweight form hardening
- Look for repeat patterns first: same domain in email, identical message text, very fast submissions (under ~3 seconds), empty referrer or missing user agent — these are cheap signals you can act on.
- Add a hidden honeypot field (visible only to bots) and a simple time check (store a timestamp when the page loads; ignore submissions before X seconds). These are quick to add and don’t annoy real users.
- Turn on reCAPTCHA (v2 or v3) for noisy public forms and require simple field rules: validate email format, require a sensible-length message, and make at least one non‑email field required.
Quarantine and a single automation gate
Make new form submissions land in a quarantine state by default. Add a hidden contact property (example name: form_status) and map a hidden form field to it with default value "quarantine". That way every new submission carries the same safe default without changing existing workflows.
Create an active list called something like "Form Quarantine — New" (criteria: form_status is equal to quarantine AND form was submitted in last 7 days). Use that list as your human review queue. For workflows, add a clear gate: only run downstream automations when form_status is equal to "released" (or an explicit automation_allowed = Yes). This keeps your current automations intact while stopping them from firing on suspect data.
Short review, simple release and ongoing monitoring
- Review process (1–2 minutes per record): open the quarantine list, check email domain (avoid disposable providers), glance at referrer and submission time, look for repeated text patterns, then set form_status to "released" and assign an owner or add a short note if it’s a real lead.
- Monitoring checks to add to a weekly routine: top submitting IPs and referrers, spike in submissions on a form endpoint, most common email domains in the quarantine list. When you spot repeat offenders, block those IPs at your host/CDN or disable that form endpoint until you harden it.
- Actions to reduce repeat noise: enable stricter reCAPTCHA, add JS checks that require cookies or a session, tighten field validation, or switch to a gated form (email first, then reveal the rest).
If you want someone to set the hidden field, list and workflow gate quickly and practically in HubSpot, Optira can help implement it for a small team.