Revision 897203677 of "NuCaptcha" on enwiki

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}

'''NuCaptcha''' is an early fraud detection service which utilises behavior analytics to provision threat appropriate, animated video [[CAPTCHA]]'s. NuCaptcha is developed and operated by [[Canada|Canadian]]-based firm, NuData Security.<ref name="reg">{{cite web|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/01/animated_captcha/|title=Animated CAPTCHA tech aims to fox spambots|work=[[The Register]]|accessdate=14 July 2010}}</ref><ref name="theh">{{cite web|url=http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/NuCaptcha-Flash-CAPTCHAs-to-combat-spambots-1032147.html|title=NuCaptcha Flash CAPTCHAs to combat spambots|accessdate=14 July 2010}}</ref><ref name="eweek">{{cite web|url=http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Company-Looks-to-Slow-Spammers-With-Video-CAPTCHA-Technology-127193/|title=Spammers to Face Video CAPTCHA Technology - Security from eWeek|work=[[eWeek]]|accessdate=14 July 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit|url=http://agendabuilder.gartner.com/SEC19/webpages/VendorDetail.aspx?Vendor=96|work=[[Gartner]]|accessdate=18 June 2013}}</ref>

Static image-based CAPTCHAs are routinely used to prevent automated sign-ups to websites by using text or images of words disguised so that [[optical character recognition]] (OCR) software has trouble reading them.<ref name="reg" /> However, in common CAPTCHA systems, users often fail to correctly solve the CAPTCHA 7% - 25% of the time.<ref name="captcha-evaluation">{{cite web |first=Elie|last=Bursztein |author2=Bethard, Steven |author3=Fabry, Celine |author4=Mitchell, John C. |author5= Jurafsky, Dan  |url=http://www.stanford.edu/~jurafsky/burszstein_2010_captcha.pdf|title= How Good are Humans at Solving CAPTCHAS? A Large Scale Evaluation|publisher=Stanford University |date=March 2010 |accessdate=2012-02-25}}</ref> NuCaptcha uses animated video technology that it claims make puzzles easier for humans to solve, but harder for bots and hackers to decipher.<ref name="reg" />
[[File:NuCaptcha logo.png|right|frameless]]

== Technology ==
NuCaptcha attempts to solve usability of static image-based CAPTCHAS using two main technologies: 1) video animation to display CAPTCHA puzzles, and 2) a behaviour analysis system to monitor interactions with the platform.
# Video animation. CAPTCHAS are displayed as a video, and rendered in the web browser.  A variety of technologies can be used to display the animated CAPTCHA, such as Flash video, HTML5, or GIF.  Standard CAPTCHA techniques such as character crowding, once animated, are easier for humans to detect because of an innate motion-detecting ability.
# Behavior Analysis. Using machine-learning algorithms, NuCaptcha monitors platform interactions to tune the security of each CAPTCHA delivered to the user. Suspected attackers are given progressively more secure CAPTCHAS.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/nucatpcha_introduces_video_CAPTCHAS_better_securit.php|title=Video CAPTCHAs Promise Better Security, Less Frustration|work=Read, Write, Web|accessdate=30 June 2010}}</ref>

== Security ==
Security researcher [[Elie Bursztein]] demonstrated a practical attack against NuCaptcha's video CAPTCHA scheme by employing [[optical flow]] techniques to isolate individual CAPTCHA characters. The proposed attack is able to break the video CAPTCHAs in more than 90% of cases.<ref name="elinucaptcha">{{cite web|last=Bursztein|first=Elie|title=How we broke the NuCaptcha video scheme and what we propose to fix it|url=http://elie.im/blog/security/how-we-broke-the-nucaptcha-video-scheme-and-what-we-propose-to-fix-it/|accessdate=20 February 2012}}</ref>

In response, NuCaptcha noted that Bursztein’s findings underscore the need for CAPTCHA puzzles to be part of a larger security construct, such as behavior monitoring to assess the risk of individual users. NuCaptcha also pointed out that the CAPTCHAS analyzed in Bursztein's blog post were middle-security puzzles focused on usability, and not the stronger puzzles presented to high-risk users.  In addition to this, NuCaptcha noted that the optical flow technique relies on static non-animated features of the puzzle.  Changes were made to NuCaptcha puzzles to remove the static non-animated features.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9OASUKWKndeMmZlZDYzNDEtZjBhOS00N2NhLTgwNGYtMWYyYmJlYzRhNjQ2/edit|title= NuCaptcha’s Thoughts on Elie Bursztein’s Document|accessdate=7 February 2012}}</ref>

== Application ==
NuCaptcha APIs are currently available in [[PHP]], [[.NET Framework|.NET]], and [[Java (programming language)|Java]]. Plugins are available for [[WordPress]], [[Drupal]], [[Codelgniter]], [[vBulletin]], and [[phpBB]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docs.nuCAPTCHA.com |title= NuCaptcha Docs |work=NuCaptcha|accessdate=25 February 2012}}</ref> In October 2011, NuCaptcha announced its CAPTCHA solutions for mobile devices across all platforms, including [[Android (operating system)|Android]] and [[iOS]].<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.nuCAPTCHA.com/press-release/nuCAPTCHA-extends-user-friendly-CAPTCHAS-to-mobile-phones-tablets-and-other-connected-devices |title= NuCaptcha Extends User-Friendly Captchas to Mobile Phones, Tablets and other Connected Devices |work=Press Release|accessdate=5 October 2011}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.nucaptcha.com/ NuCAPTCHA homepage]

[[Category:Internet companies of Canada]]
[[Category:Anti-spam]]
[[Category:Human-based computation]]
[[Category:Turing tests]]
[[Category:Access control software]]
[[Category:Web technology]]

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