Photo by: Franck
Capchats have been used for more than 20 years to avoid having bots using your digital service as a punching ball. Or just putting the security of your platform at risk. Most of us still encounter the classic suite of letters and numbers to copy from or the image to select. But are those systems still efficient.
Capchat tests have become increasingly sophisticated over the years, but they are still not perfect. Bots are now able to solve many Capchats(image-based capchat, letters, and numbers) with high accuracy like Buster and other tools. This means that Capchats are no longer as effective as they once were at preventing bots from accessing websites. It will only protect you from very basic spamming.
Also, Capchats can create security risks for users. For example, Capchats with letters and numbers can be used to exploit security vulnerabilities in websites. Hackers can create Capchats that contain malicious code. When users try to solve these Capchats, their computers or mobile devices could be infected with malware or viruses. Or if the Capchat is a form which requires personal information. A user may be tricked into entering their personal information into a fake Capchat that is designed to look like a real Capchat. This could give the attacker access to the user's sensitive information, such as their password or credit card number.
Capchats tests can also be frustrating and time-consuming for users. Many Capchats are poorly designed which can make them difficult to solve even for humans. Some users may have to try multiple times before they are successful. This can lead to users abandoning websites altogether.
Capchats can also be inaccessible to some users, such as people with disabilities or if the Captchat is using a foreign language and is not translated. This can create a barrier to access for these users.
Since the Capchats is not really efficient anymore you should consider using other alternatives. Those will make your platform safer and more user-friendly. There are a number of alternatives. One is to use risk-based authentication. Risk-based authentication uses a variety of factors, such as the user's IP address, device type, and browsing history, to determine whether the user is a bot or a human.
Another alternative is to use behavioral analysis. Behavioral analysis looks at the user's behavior on the website, such as how they interact with forms and how they move around the site. This information can be used to identify bots and prevent them from accessing the website.
Capchat tests are no longer as effective as they once were at preventing bots from accessing websites. Here is a list of possible tools which could help you:
- Cloudfare turnstile
- reCAPTCHA
- Honeypot method
- gamification methode, riddles (but could be hard for accessibility)
In the near future, those solutions might change again with the improvements made in the AI world. You should keep an eye on it to keep your platform safe, and remember there is no security solution that is 100% bulletproof.
Article by Gregoire Bessette & Bard
Capchat solver:
https://anti-captcha.com/
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/buster-captcha-solver-for/mpbjkejclgfgadiemmefgebjfooflfhl
Source:
https://resources.infosecinstitute.com/topics/general-security/dont-use-captcha-here-are-9-captcha-alternatives/
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/03/10/use-captchas/
https://www.experienceux.co.uk/ux-blog/5-alternatives-to-captcha-that-wont-baffle-or-frustrate-users/#:~:text=1.,honeypot%20or%20time%2Dbased%20alternatives.
