Skip to Content

Free TUAW iPhone app -- try it now!
AOL Tech

penn-state posts

Filed under: Internet, Security, web 2.0

Researchers develop new robot-proof CAPTCHA

New CAPTCHA
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.

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

View more Time Wasters

Featured Galleries

Defective by Design, London: Protest Pictures
Microsoft Security Essentials
Chromium Pre-Alpha on CrunchBang Linux
Safari 4 Beta
10 Firefox themes that don't suck
IE8 RC1
Download Squad at the Crunchies After-Party
Download Squad at the Crunchies
WordPress 2.7
Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals
Windows 7 Hands On
Comodo Internet Security
Android First-look: Amazon.com MP3 Store
Android First-look: Twitroid
Google Reader Android
Android Hands-On
Twine 1.0
Photoshop Express Beta
Mozilla Birthday Cake
Palm stuff
Adobe Lightroom 1.1

 


Follow us on Twitter!

Flickr Pool

www.flickr.com

More Tech Coverage

AOL Radio