CAPTCHA THE DOG
a SPAM FILTER preventing ROBOTS from using your webforms
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10217682-1.html
http://www.theinquirer.es/2009/04/14/nuevo-captcha-%e2%80%9cacierta-el-perrito%e2%80%9d.html
http://terminal.hu/cikk.php?article_id=115672
http://www.etiole.com/2009/04/tired-of-captcha-here-comes-captcha-the-dog/
http://www.keylogger.org/news-world/another-image-based-captcha-method-5385.html
http://thegadget411.com/2009/04/tired-of-old-captcha-try-captchathedog/
http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/462830/0/captcha/encontrar/perrito/
http://www.geekissimo.com/2009/04/15/un-ottima-soluzione-captcha-per-il-nostro-sito-web/
http://www.fusionbb.com/forum/showtopic.php?tid/11137
http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?fr=ybr_vzn&p=http://www.captchathedog.com
http://www.google.com/search?q=www.captchathedog.com&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&client=safari
http://habrahabr.ru/blogs/infosecurity/57250/
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Contact: Jeremiah Cook 802.881.2285
warden@captchathedog.com
For Immediate Release
So Long Squiggly Letters: CAPTCHA THE DOG
Makes Fighting Spambots More Effective, Less Annoying
Grand Isle, Vermont - April 27, 2009 - Is that an N or an H? Does that say LODGE or 10aGE? Why do I feel like a squinting 110-year-old NSA cryptologist every time I want to subscribe to a blog, log on to a publishing site or inquire about a new product? Answer: robots (spambots). The Internet is teeming with Automated Computer Systems relentlessly attempting to dump gobs of unwanted spam, harvest email addresses, scrape site content for unauthorized reuse, upload viruses, and who knows what else. They are a nuisance, and they're here to stay. So far the best means of thwarting them has been through use of a CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing to tell Computers and Humans Apart).
The problem is that most CAPTCHAs are the text-based, squiggly-letter-and-numbers kind. Many users find them annoying, hard to discern, and difficult to pass. Also there is the problem of handheld devices such iPhones, which don't have keyboards. Then there is the question of whether text-based CAPTCHAs are any longer effective.[1]
CAPTCHA THE DOG was developed by Daniel McMullan, an Internet solutions expert based in Grand Isle, Vermont. According to McMullan, his CAPTCHA program is different in that it uses a random sequence of 9 images (not letters or numbers) to foil spambots. "Essentially," McMullan says, "it's a game of 'which one of these things is not like the other?'" A visitor must correctly select the one dissimilar image correctly 5 times in a row. The process is easy for humans, takes a few seconds, and is highly effective in deterring would-be spammers. "The key is that the site owner uses his or her own personal images," McMullan explains. He says the images could be dogs and cats, trees and flowers, cars and trucks, trucks and flowers, or whatever the site owner chooses. He says that even when a human trains a spambot that is based on the site owner's 9 images, that spambot will only succeed once. "As soon as one spam gets through, a new image is integrated-that spambot now needs retraining."
A free trial of McMullan's CAPTCHA THE DOG application is currently available at: captchathedog.com. Users who want to deploy their own images, can set up a one-year customized CAPTCHA THE DOG account for $25.
On April 13, 2009, CNET ran an article highlighting CAPTCHA THE DOG[2]. The article was translated into several languages and has generated interest from Web techs and site managers around the world. The article states that "[CAPTCHA THE DOG] seems a simple yet effective alternative to the text-based Captcha that's so popular and so frustrating to use."
McMullan says he hopes that his program can offer another layer of protection for site owners and programmers. "My hope is that this will help remove some of the incentive for spammers and the like, and maybe help throttle back the CAPTCHA vs. spambot arms race."
Visit captchathedog.com for a free trial and more information.
###
______________________________________
[1] http://www.techworld.com/security/features/index.cfm?featureid=4168
[2] http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10217682-1.html
|
|
|
|
