CAPTCHA Bot

A CAPTCHA bot is an automated program that attempts to bypass human verification tests used to determine whether the website visitor is an actual person. They are commonly placed on websites and internet forums to prevent abuse originating from automated scripts and network flooding attacks. Usually, these bots are used on sites with heavy traffic where manual moderation is considered too time-consuming to be practical.

How CAPTCHA bots work

CAPTCHAs work by presenting the user with a string of characters, numbers or images that it would have to assess in order to verify that they are human. This allows for fast and automatic recognition whether or not the user visiting the website is an actual person. CAPTCHA bots have been designed to recognize and decipher these tests automatically, therefore, they can easily bypass most standard CAPTCHAs used today.

Why you should protect your website from CAPTCHA bots

A CAPTCHA bot will perform a brute force attack, by continuously trying to break into your website using all possible combinations of letters, numbers, and characters until it finds one that works. They are used by hackers to exploit vulnerabilities in your site or forum. While this might not be an immediate threat for standard blogs or small community forums, they can be very dangerous on any sites with heavy traffic where manual moderation is considered too time-consuming to be practical.

What you can do to protect your website from CAPTCHA bots

CAPTCHA bots are continuously evolving and learning to bypass updated forms of CAPTCHA, resulting in an arms race between the two programs. For this reason, the best way to protect your site from bot attacks is by using an alternative bot management solution to CAPTCHA. This will not only prevent bot attacks but also give you access to other bot management-related tools that allow you to better manage the automated traffic on your site or forum.