How CAPTCHAs Work | What Does CAPTCHA Mean?
What is a CAPTCHA? A CAPTCHA test is designed to determine if an online user is really a human and not a bot. CAPTCHA is an acronym that stands for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart." Users often encounter CAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA tests on the Internet. Such tests are one way of managing bot activity, although the approach has its drawbacks. Although CAPTCHAs are designed to block automated bots, CAPTCHAs are themselves automated. They're programmed to pop up in certain places on a website, and they automatically pass or fail users. How does a CAPTCHA work? Classic CAPTCHAs, which are still in use on some web properties today, involve asking users to identify letters. The letters are distorted so that bots are not likely to be able to identify them. To pass the test, users have to interpret the distorted text, type the correct letters into a form field, and submit the form. If the letters don't match, users are p...