Hot off the press is the astounding news that CAPTCHA could be the thing of the past. An article that I have read from computerworld Captcha Article, stated even though this technology was very useful way for web administrators to authenticate users. It is quoted in the article "This is now an easy way for malware authors and spammers to do their dirty work. For those who are only new to the internet game. Captcha was used by Google's Gmail, Yahoo Mail and Microsofts Hotmail to authenticate human users instead of automated bots that could get accounts or make postings. The statement in the article clearly highlights "Those days are long gone".
This year between January to April Yahoo Mail, Gmail, and Hotmail were cracked and utilised by spammers. To make it more apparent that this statement is true, the tools to crack the CAPTCHA code can be accessed for free.
Social network users are also at risk from Captcha Spam, not only just email's but posting on Myspace, Facebook, DIGG etc are at risk of malware authors. The article states how the spammers operate, " What happens is that an attacker creates a public blog of his own or sets up an account, he can then use these to publish malicious links. Please let everyone be aware of these malicious acts. The spammers know that the people on these networks are highly vulnerable to trusting other people. For the very obvious reason " It won't happen to me " or I don't think people will exploit my details. Sorry to say, but please be careful of who you deal with on these social networks and form a relationship with those who you trust.
The main reason why I posted this article for those to see, is to make aware of those wanting to invest in this technology. If you have web companies wanting to implement this into your company security structure to create authentic users for your potential members via email. Please think again, because this is now only useful for spammers, not to improve your security measures.
If you would like to read the alarming article. Please go to:
Computer World: How captcha got trashed
