Forms are an integral element of Websites & apps. They facilitate communication between consumers and the application owner.
The problem with forms, though, is that they are written in code, which is easy for malicious bots to read to gain access to applications. Generally, bots are sent out to glean information. One of the ways they succeed is by finding unprotected forms on the Net, & signing into applications.
There are various methods developers use to prevent this scenario. One of the most well known is a CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart) 1st coined by Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum, Nicholas Hopper & John Langford of Carnegie Mellon University, in 2000.
CAPTCHAs make it difficult for bots to complete & submit forms. While the challenge offered is not too complicated for humans to read.
Usually, the CAPTCHA is integrated at the base of a form, where no validation of the sign up’s email address is possible, such as a ‘Contact Us’ form. If the user is not prompted to validate his email address by clicking on a link sent to them by the application, it is very possible that the user may be a bot rather than a human (the reason being that bots use fake addresses, so they cannot complete this ultimate protection step).
CAPTCHAs, which are usually in image format (an audio file is often available for sight challenged users), are a challenge that tests a response, which must be validated before the user is given access or allowed to subscribe to a mailing list. The challenge might be in the form of jumbled letters and numbers, such as the reCAPTCH offering, or it might be a series of images from which the user needs to identify matches — selecting common images from a random set — such as Google’s CAPTCHA. Once the form is submitted, the application validates the user’s response, if it’s incorrect, the submission fails, thereby protecting the application from bot invasion.
The need for some form of protection is clear when considering the results of studies such as this report which estimates that 53% of all logins on social media are fraudulent, & 25% of all new accounts are fake. That’s a substantial number, & serious enough for application owners to take note of. Fortunately, due to the size of the problem, several professional systems are on offer, which can be integrated into applications by following a few steps or installing a plugin (if using WordPress) that automates the process— Google’s CAPTCHA, reCAPTCHA
