After the Nat West saga, it shows how reliant we all are on our systems. Viruses, hackers and spammers all try to disrupt our lives by tampering with our websites and data. One of the ways you can go some way to protect your business is to add Captcha software to your website. Although not fool proof, it is a useful tool. We make sure that we add a Captcha function to the websites that we develop.
You’re likely to have come across Captcha; it’s the random selection of numbers and letters that appear on websites when you’re purchasing something or logging in to a secure website. But what are they for and how did they start?
Most importantly, the software is in place to prevent computer programs from attacking websites with spam and potentially disruptive viruses. By typing in the combination of letters and numbers, you’re proving to a website that you’re ‘human’ and not a malicious spamming programme. So it’s purpose is invaluable.
Captcha is used by over 350,000 global websites. It was acquired by Google in 2009 and as part of its facility; there are options to hear an audio version of the Captcha and to ReCaptcha if the letters are not legible.
This tool was invented in 2000 by Luis von Ahn. Luis is quite the entrepreneur and as well as having the invention of Captcha under his belt, he also established the free tutorial website, Duolingo, with help from his colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University. Duolingo helps people learn a new language for free in exchange for them helping to translate the entire internet. As users progress through the lessons, they simultaneously help to translate websites and other documents. The site is so popular that it has a waiting list of over 300,000 people!
So it’s thanks to Luis that we can use Captcha today. If you need help incorporating this in to your website, get in touch and we can advise you.