Cloudflare, a DNS service provider, has said it wants to replace the CAPTCHA web craze with a completely new system.
CAPTCHAs are these tests that you must do when trying to connect to a service, which ask you to click on images of things like buses or crossings or bicycles to prove that you are human.
(The name CAPTCHA, if you didn't know, comes from the initials of “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.”) Το πρόβλημα είναι ότι προσθέτουν επιπλέον χρόνο στη χρήση του ιστού και μερικές φορές μπορεί να είναι δύσκολο να επιλυθούν – Είμαι βέβαιος ότι δεν είμαι ο μόνος που απέτυχε σε ένα CAPTCHA επειδή δεν είδα τη γωνία μιας διάβασης πεζών σε μία picture.
In a blog post, Cloudflare says it intends to "get rid of CAPTCHA completely" by replacing them with a new way to prove that you are human by touching or looking at a device using a system called "Cryptographic Attestation of Personality". Currently, it only supports a limited number of USB security keys such as YubiKeys, but you can try the Cloudflare system (without USB) on the company website.
https://cloudflarechallenge.com/
I tried it and it worked great. All I had to do was 1 click on the “I am human (beta)” button and then follow some instructions to choose my security key, Then I had to allow the site to access the key.
The whole procedure it took a few seconds and I have to admit it was really nice not to have to search for images of buses and bus-like objects. And in addition to the speed of everything, this new method could have a significant accessibility benefit, as visually impaired people may not be able to complete the CAPTCHAs that are out there today.
What happens behind the scenes with the new method?
In short, your device has a built-in secure drive that contains a unique key that is sealed by your manufacturer. The security unit is able to prove that it holds such a key without disclosing it. Cloudflare asks you for proof and verifies that your manufacturer is legitimate.
You can read a much more extensive explanation at company blog.
Although it's a very interesting idea, it's probably not the end of CAPTCHAs as we know them. For starters, Cloudflare says this is an experiment and is currently available "in limited English-speaking areas." In its current state, it only works with a limited set of hardware: YubiKeys, HyperFIDO keys, and Thetis FIDO U2F keys
Η Cloudflare promises to "consider adding more verifiers as soon as possible." This could be extended to your phone: Cloudflare recommends using a phone on your computer to pass a wireless signature using NFC.
Google can treat both iPhones and Android as natural security keys. If Google and Apple were to use the Cloudflare method, they could significantly reduce the barrier by using USB, as smartphones are much more common than USB security.
