CAPTCHA Systems:
CAPTCHA systems are once again in focus as debates arise over their role in the recent surge of bot activity and digital security breaches, highlighting both their importance and limitations in today’s evolving cyber landscape.
- CAPTCHA stands for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.”
- It is a human verification tool designed to distinguish between real users and automated bots.
- Users are prompted to solve puzzles, like identifying distorted text or selecting images (e.g., traffic lights or cars).
- reCAPTCHA, introduced in 2009, used scanned words from books to aid in digitization.
- Invisible reCAPTCHA (2014) detects human presence using mouse movement and user behaviour.
- CAPTCHA Protects websites from spam, fake registrations, and automated attacks.
- Adds a security layer to sensitive actions like logins, payments, and data recovery.
- Used in online forms, comment sections, polls, and e-commerce for human validation.
- Supported by major tech players, including Google, and deployed across thousands of platforms.
