Alternative to CAPTCHA Solution for Websites

We spend several hours every week talking to website owners on ways to simplify user experience on their websites. In our research, we often see people struggle with CAPTCHA, the anti-bot and anti-spam solution designed to differentiate between a human and a bot (automated programs). It is easy to see why technology teams adopt this tool to avoid spam – it is clearly an effective tool. However, they are probably not aware of how frustrating users find it! We regularly hear website visitors say things like

“oh, I hate these things”,
“not again”,
“how many times do I solve this?”
“why are they making it difficult for me?”

In some cases, we have even seen genuine users abandon a site altogether when faced with a CAPTCHA tool.

Since 2000, CAPTCHAs have been understood as annoying-but-bulletproof, but this understanding is being challenged today (at least the “bulletproof” part). One San Francisco-based startup has claimed to have created an algorithm that cracks CAPTCHAs with 90 percent accuracy. Bots have become intelligent enough to read through and solve CAPTCHAs, rendering the use of CAPTCHAs useless to most extent. It seems that the robots are winning and CAPTCHAs are annoying even if they are helpful to some extent.

A Non-Intrusive and Automated Bot Protection Alternative to CAPTCHA

When the problem of the bots needs to solved, we need to put fresh perspectives to find ways to protect websites from malicious bots. For instance, we at InfiSecure provide extremely efficient solution to differentiate genuine human traffic from bot traffic, in real-time, without using CAPTCHAs. The solution to the problem focuses on the fact that each bot that is developed for malicious purpose follows certain technical rules that can be identified using accurate bot detection algorithms.

Some of the technical rules InfiSecure use for bot identification are a combination of:

• User Behavior Testing


• Pattern Recognition


• Machine Learning


• Pattern Recognition


• UserAgent, Session, URL and Referral URL testing


• IP Reputation


• Device Fingerprinting


• Global Threat Intelligence Databases and


• Real-time Blacklists

InfiSecure determines whether a particular hit coming to a server is from a genuine person or a bot trying to perform automated actions on the website without permission. In real-time, the bad bots hitting a website are identified and such requests are blocked. This ensures high degree of sophistication to solve bot issues with minimal false positives.

With this bot protection technology, we are already protecting 100s of Brands from bot frauds. This is by far the most efficient way to detect bot traffic and block it in real-time. Of course, unlike a CAPTCHA, the platform does cost, but also ensures good returns after deployment. All bot frauds, competitive price matching, web scraping, data and content theft, form spam, booking fraud, screen scraping and other bot abuses are eliminated at just one go.

While at the same time, user interface is also improved as the CAPTCHAs are removed. The website loads faster, gets pushed up in Google search rankings, gets more genuine visitors and has cleaner marketing insights in terms of website visitors.

Can you Implement this Technology on your Website?

Mostly yes, as InfiSecure integrates within 10 minutes with websites built on PHP, Java, ASP.NET, NodeJS, Python, Ruby, Classical ASP, Magento, Drupal and WordPress.

Summary

There are a number of alternatives to CAPTCHA available. However, like any change to a website, it is important to consider the impact of a CAPTCHA tool will have on users before it is implemented. There are a number of business and user experience considerations above the technical considerations with such alternatives. We would therefore recommend technology teams considering CAPTCHA alternatives to consult with a bot protection expert before making a decision. The best approach would be to implement an automated bot protection technology that helps a website stay protected from all bot frauds with great accuracy and also gives improved user experience.

Key Takeaways

• Website visitors hate using sites with CAPTCHA


• Alternative solutions are available which may be little less frustrating as CAPTCHA


• The best solution is a bot protection technology that blocks bad bots and allows genuine bots and visitors to visit a website. And also, it doesn’t require users to prove they are not spam-bots

Are you planning to use an automated bot protection platform as an alternative to CAPTCHA solution? If so, get in touch for some tips on how you could get started.