Invisible anything sounds interesting and fun. Google has taken its reCAPTCHA to another level of sophistication and promise by making it invisible. Now Google will be able to establish if a computer user is human or a robot through new methodology and less work from us.
The CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) has been around since 2003, originally developed by Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum, Nicholas J. Hopper, and John Langford.
Google acquired the CAPTCHA-like system; reCAPTCHA in 2009, and since the system has gone through several iterations. We have all experienced the reCAPTCHA and while on some days we had the patience to first authenticate ourselves through a check box and squint and try to figure out the distorted letters or numbers, there were days the step proved to be annoying.
Simple tasks of opening an email account also were subject to reCAPTCHA screening. Google has decided to change that by introducing the invisible reCAPTCHA that works in the background to recognize and differentiate computer activity of humans from that of robots. The Beta version of the same was launched late last year.
So how does the new invisible reCAPTCHA work? Well, Google isn’t providing detailed information about the same for security reasons, but they have revealed that it uses a combination of machine learning and advanced risk analysis that adapts to new and emerging threats.
reCAPTCHA: Tough on Bots, Easy on Humans
Google has introduced the invisible reCAPTCHA for free to help website developers keep their websites safe. The reCAPTCHA is the world’s most widely used website robot filter, it will work in the new invisible mode by observing the behaviour of the user via mouse movements, if the user is signed in to their Google account it will further help better the experience. Users flagged as “suspicious” by the system will have to go through the same challenges of correctly identifying words/numbers.
According to Google;
“reCAPTCHA uses an advanced risk analysis engine and adaptive CAPTCHAs to keep automated software from engaging in abusive activities on your site. It does this while letting your valid users pass through with ease.”
The future of barring bots from websites will be interesting to note, with the new invisible reCAPTCHA introduced by Google. The company has proved once again that it prioritizes user friendly methods and making life simple by completely omitting the involvement of users in solving CAPTCHAS and proceeding to web pages.
CAPTCHAS have a wider scope than just security; they help in digitizing books, annotating the images, and building machine learning datasets. Tutorials to install the new invisible CAPTCHA are available on YouTube as well.
What do you think about the new invisible reCAPTCHA?
