Captcha Madness

[pmv]

Anyone encountered these cryptic Captchas? "Identify which dogs are smiling" LOL.

Smiling Dogs? Horses Made of Clouds? Captcha Has Gone Too Far

Users face increasingly impossible challenges to prove they are not bots.

www.wired.co.uk

I haven't encountered the "smiling dogs" one, myself, but even the normal ones are often tricky - e.g. "is that a hill in the far distance in that picture or something else?" "is that a tiny part of a car on the edge of the frame, and if so does it count?" "what _is_ a 'crosswalk' anyway? Is that like the US version of a Zebra Crossing?"

 

[pete6032]

Should you count the traffic light pole when it asks about traffic lights, or just the red/yellow/green box itself?

 

[IronWing]

If you hit a pedestrian in a zebra crossing you can kiss your ass goodbye. If you hit a pedestrian in a crosswalk, you get a small fine and your insurance rate might go up a bit. First world vs third world valuation of human life.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

These things oughta be banned.


There are a couple of auto kill'em tools in Brave and Vivaldi, but I can't find one for SeaMonkey.

I can't figure out why only some sites do it while others never do and some do it every time.


'Nother thread from a while back:

Abolish CAPTCHA?

Bot protection firm Kasada lands $23M to abolish the CAPTCHA VentureBeat|12 minutes ago Bot mitigation firm Kasada raised $10 million to expand its customer base and further develop its ML-powered product. I'd be cool with that as long as they don't hurl something worse at the world.

forums.anandtech.com

..

 

[Red Squirrel]

I get why they exist, because bots have gotten smart enough to just analyze a graphic image and figure out what letters/numbers are in it, so they need to make captcha that are harder for bots. But there is diminishing returns. Just how hard do you want to make it for humans who might give up after 3 tries and just not bother signing up for whatever the service is? Seems to me, it's better to setup the system in such a way that new users are basically filtered for a little while until they can be proven as not being a bot. Ex: reduced access to features.

 

[Captante]

I get why they exist, because bots have gotten smart enough to just analyze a graphic image and figure out what letters/numbers are in it, so they need to make captcha that are harder for bots. But there is diminishing returns. Just how hard do you want to make it for humans who might give up after 3 tries and just not bother signing up for whatever the service is? Seems to me, it's better to setup the system in such a way that new users are basically filtered for a little while until they can be proven as not being a bot. Ex: reduced access to features.

Or just enable 2FA by default and support verification via app. (ie: Google/MS authenticator or similar)

Relatively shortly 'bot's will be capable of doing nearly anything a human can that's the real diminishing-return of "captcha".

 

[Red Squirrel]

Or just enable 2FA by default and support verification via app. (ie: Google/MS authenticator or similar)

Relatively shortly 'bot's will be capable of doing nearly anything a human can that's the real diminishing-return of "captcha".

Sucks forcing people to need an app just to use a site. I fear this is probably how it will eventually be though... I really hate how everything is basically forcing us to need a smart phone. I'm sure bots would eventually be able to do even that though, there is probably a way to emulate a smartphone in software.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

2fa?

2FA????

2FA?????





NO 2FA!!!!!!

 

[Captante]

Sucks forcing people to need an app just to use a site. I fear this is probably how it will eventually be though... I really hate how everything is basically forcing us to need a smart phone. I'm sure bots would eventually be able to do even that though, there is probably a way to emulate a smartphone in software.

At some point those pesky 'bots may be coming for a lot more than our latest 2FA technology!

"Authenticator" app's along with strong encryption are the best we can do for the average user at the moment unfortunately.

And although they CAN be cracked 99% of the time the baddie will move along to a softer target... there's plenty to go around!

 

[Captante]

For all you "Google-phobe's" out there!

(you know who u r... and so does the GOOG! It knows EVERYTHING haha!) <submit... submit... submit...>


8 of the Best Google Authenticator Alternatives
(maketecheasier.com)


Also this:

Best encryption software of 2022 (techradar.com)

Keep your files and folders secret and safe!

 

[sdifox]

Should you count the traffic light pole when it asks about traffic lights, or just the red/yellow/green box itself?

Lights could be hang on wires so I would say the lights.

 

[13Gigatons]

I really hate these.....and some are so bad that I just close the tab.

 

[crashtech]

I get asked so often that now I sometimes identify as a robot, guilty as charged.

 

[Muse]

Should you count the traffic light pole when it asks about traffic lights, or just the red/yellow/green box itself?

I HATE CAPCHAS !!! I never yell at people but I do yell at machines!

 

[Muse]

For all you "Google-phobe's" out there!

(you know who u r... and so does the GOOG! It knows EVERYTHING!) <submit... submit... submit...>

8 of the Best Google Authenticator Alternatives
(maketecheasier.com)

Also this:

Best encryption software of 2022 (techradar.com)

Keep your files and folders secret and safe!

I figure that a hacker or scammer wouldn't be able to do anything with my data. They'd never figure out my passwords, CC numbers, nothing. They'd be befuddled. Plus, if they tried to ransomeware me I'd laugh in their face. I made a backup of my NAS just yesterday. There's nothing on my workstations or cell phones of importance.

Here's some light reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ransomware

 

[Red Squirrel]

To me ransomware is not any different than if I got a data loss situation. If I got hit with it, it would suck, but I'd have to just restore backups. After a reinstall, that is. Want to make sure the ransom virus is not still running or it might hit the backups too as soon as you connect the drive.

 

[brianmanahan]

my favorite captcha

https://realhumanbean.net

 

[snoopy7548]

 

[Captante]

8 of the Best Google Authenticator Alternatives
(maketecheasier.com)


I figure that a hacker or scammer wouldn't be able to do anything with my data. They'd never figure out my passwords, CC numbers, nothing. They'd be befuddled. Plus, if they tried to ransomeware me I'd laugh in their face. I made a backup of my NAS just yesterday. There's nothing on my workstations or cell phones of importance.

Here's some light reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ransomware

If you encrypt your data they REALLY won't be able to do anything with it lol.... otherwise the best protection you and the vast majority even in the land of the "ATOT-rich" have is that:

(1) If you have ANY solid protection at all that puts you WAY ahead of the "average joe" using "qwerty" as their "master" password and not bothering to run any AV software.... this will "chase-off" 99% of attackers from the get-go.

(2) Essentially you don't actually have much worth stealing relative to the true "big fish" and are not worth a ton of effort. (see reason #1)

Trust me without STRONG encryption properly in-place and the RANDOM/COMPLEX key only stored off-premises, if real hackers decide they want your info they'll have it in a flash... every scrap of it.

 

[Muse]

Trust me without STRONG encryption properly in-place and the RANDOM/COMPLEX key only stored off-premises, if real hackers decide they want your info they'll have it in a flash... every scrap of it.

But my point is a "real hacker" wouldn't be able to do anything with my data. It's no gold mine, they can't make any money off it. They wouldn't know how to use it to any advantage. It is valuable to me but your run of the mill hacker would not find it useful. I back up pretty regularly. Even if every trace of my data disappeared from my house (fire or hacker attack or whatever), my backed up data could be restored to a fresh system.

 

[Captante]

But my point is a "real hacker" wouldn't be able to do anything with my data. It's no gold mine, they can't make any money off it. They wouldn't know how to use it to any advantage. It is valuable to me but your run of the mill hacker would not find it useful. I back up pretty regularly. Even if every trace of my data disappeared from my house (fire or hacker attack or whatever), my backed up data could be restored to a fresh system.

Coulda sworn I pretty much just said that but okay.

Same reason I'm not real concerned about spy-pics!

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

^^^ Until Blue Thunder catches you shaggin' the neighbor's wife in the hot tub.