Researchers develop new robot-proof CAPTCHA

Filed under: Internet, Security, web 2.0

Researchers develop new robot-proof CAPTCHA

by Brad Linder Apr 23rd 2008

CAPTCHAs are becoming both ubiquitous and useless. When you visit many web sites, you have to decipher some tough-to-read text and enter it in a box before you can leave a comment or send an email. But hackers are getting better and better at developing automated systems to crack CAPTCHAs, which means that you have to squint at the screen for nothing.

But some researchers at Penn State University have developed a next generation CAPTCHA system that asks users to actually use their noggin a bit. There are two tests. The first requires you to click the center of a composite image, while the second presents you with a list of ten words and asks you to pick the right one to describe a randomly generated image.

The test is difficult for computers to solve because the images have a bunch of random colors, textures, and other features designed to confuse an automated program. But human being should have no problem deciphering the visual information in the images.

The test page is partially down today thanks to a Slashdot mention, but you can still see screenshots of the tests.

Tags: captcha, penn-state, security

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Vipralion said 5:35PM on 4-23-2008

Hmm... I wonder how robot-proof Microsoft Research's Asirra is considering they don't use the noise filters to distort the image. It's definitely more human friendly! If you can't tell the difference between a dog and a cat then how could you be human or even from this planet?

(Btw, dogs rool, cats dr00l!)

Adam said 6:06PM on 4-23-2008

Well I hope it will continue to work and become accepted. I can't stand trying to decipher some of the CAPTCHAs out there knowing that robots are probably getting it faster than me anyways.

dukemang said 10:41PM on 4-23-2008

I can see it now, there will be a web site where people can post cool captcha images they saw.

B said 7:30AM on 4-24-2008

I would be more concerned with end users being able to complete a task on a site before I would be concerned with spiders. These solutions appear as though they would be difficult to explain to common users and might have a negative impact on completion rates.

I work on a popular website that sells software to a diverse audience (gender, age, educational background) and we find it hard to implement features that everyone can use correctly and maintain a high completion rate.

I'm all for reducing spider-spawned spam, but if it affects the user's ability to interact with the site it's of little use to me.

Transcontinental said 10:19AM on 4-24-2008

I just love it, when a kid is able whereas a Cray is not!

kingkool68 said 11:18AM on 4-24-2008

This is a blessing and a curse. A Blessing because it will help keep evil spam baddies out but a curse because where are we going to get these funny CAPTCHA moments like this -> http://www.russellheimlich.com/blog/did-wikipedia-just-insult-me/

Jeebus said 12:24PM on 4-24-2008

How do blind people navigate CAPTCHAs?

Rocketboy said 1:44PM on 4-25-2008

That's bloody awful. Unless the image had a clear center (like where the corners of four stamps touch), I couldn't get past the first stage.

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