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Bots are better and significantly faster than humans at cracking Captcha tests, according to a comprehensive new study that inspected the security system deployed in over 100 popular websites. Automated bots pose a significant threat to the internet because they can masquerade as legitimate human users and perform harmful operations like scraping content, creating accounts and posting fake comments or reviews, as well as consuming scarce resources. “If left unchecked, bots can perform these nefarious actions at scale,” warned scientists, including those from the University of California, Irvine. For over two decades, Captchas have been deployed as security checks by websites to block potentially harmful bots by presenting puzzles that are supposed to be straightforward for people to solve – but very difficult for computers. Earlier forms of Captcha, for instance, asked users to transcribe distorted text from an image, but with advances in computer vision and machine learning, bots soon caught up to recognise the text with near perfect accuracy. Engaged in an arms race with bots, Captchas have since evolved into an annoying presence on the internet, becoming increasingly more and more difficult to solve for both bots and humans. However, the new yet-to-be peer-reviewed research, posted in arXiv, finds bots are able to quickly crack Captcha tests with ease, suggesting global effort users put into cracking these puzzles every day may be more trouble than its worth. In the study, scientists assessed 200 of the most popular websites and found 120 still used Captcha. They took the help of 1,000 participants online from diverse backgrounds – varying in location, age, sex and educational level – to take 10 captcha tests on these sites and gauge their difficulty levels. Researchers found many bots described in scientific journals could beat humans at these tests in both speed and accuracy. Some captcha tests took human participants between nine and 15 seconds to solve, with an accuracy of about 50 to 84 per cent, while it took the bots less than a second to crack them, with up to near perfection. “The bots’ accuracy ranges from 85-100 per cent, with the majority above 96 per cent. This substantially exceeds the human accuracy range we observed (50-85 per cent),” scientists wrote in the study. They also found that the bots’ solving times are “significantly lower” or nearly the same as humans in almost all cases. Since current Captchas do not meet the required security goal of keeping bots away, researchers have called for better and more dynamic approaches to protect websites. Read More Shock for millions of voters as details exposed in hack – which went undetected for a year AI-driven cyberattack can now steal your passwords with near 100 per cent accuracy, study warns More than a million NHS patients’ details compromised after cyberattack Many adults would struggle to understand video-sharing platforms’ rules – Ofcom Now even Zoom tells staff: ‘Come back to the office’ Ozzy Osbourne PlayStation tweet which failed to reveal link to Sony banned

Elon Musk has been slammed by the Israeli government after offering to send SpaceX’s Starlink to Gaza. The tech mogul said over the weekend that he would send Starlink to “internationally recognised aid organizations” in Gaza after a telephone and internet blackout in the city. He added that it was not clear who has authority for ground links in Gaza, but “no terminal has requested a connection in that area”. Responding to Musk’s post on X, Israel’s communication minister Shlomo Karhi hit out at the tech mogul, claiming that Hamas militants would use Stralink technology for “terrorist activities” and vowing that Israel will fight the move. “Israel will use all means at its disposal to fight this,” Mr Karhi wrote. “HAMAS will use it for terrorist activities. Perhaps Musk would be willing to condition it with the release of our abducted babies, sons, daughters, elderly people. All of them! By then, my office will cut any ties with starlink.” Mr Musk has insisted that SpaceX will take “extraordinary measures” to ensure the technology is only used for humanitarian reasons. It is unclear what those measures are. “Moreover, we will do a security check with both the US and Israeli governments before turning on even a single terminal,” he added on X. It comes after telecommunications were cut in Gaza over the weekend, leaving millions of residents without power or means of contact as Israel widened its air and ground assault. International humanitarian organisations said the blackout, which began late on Friday, was worsening an already desperate situation by impeding life-saving operations and preventing contact with their staff on the ground. Following the blackout, Palestinians appealed to Mr Musk to send Starlink satellites to Gaza. “Gaza is under bombardment, the internet and telecommunications have been cut off. They need Starlink immediately,” Anastasia Maria Loupis, a doctor, wrote on X. It comes after Mr Musk was widely praised for providing Ukraine with Starlink following Russia’s February 2022 invasion. Starlink satellites were reported to have been critical to maintaining internet connectivity in some areas despite attempted Russian jamming. But since then, Mr Musk has come under scrutiny after declining to extend coverage over Russian-occupied Crimea, refusing to allow his satellites to be used for Ukrainian attacks on Russian forces there. Mr Musk allegedly feared doing so would trigger a nuclear response from Moscow. Since Hamas launched an attack on Israel on 7 October in which 1,400 people died, Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes on Gaza, leading to the deaths of more than 8,000 Palestinians. Read More Suella Braverman hits out at pro-Palestinian ‘hate marches’ Suella Braverman attacks pro-Palestine protests as ‘hate marches’ Chant ‘from the river to the sea’ deeply offensive to many, says Downing Street Oil prices could reach 'uncharted waters' if the Israel-Hamas war escalates, the World Bank says Live updates | Israel deepens military assault in the northern Gaza Strip Israel expands ground assault into Gaza as fears rise over airstrikes near crowded hospitals

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BUSAN, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 18, 2023--

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By Nate Raymond and Jarrett Renshaw The Biden administration on Monday issued new guidance to colleges and universities

AMHERST, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 22, 2023--

Shimmering skyscrapers, desert backdrops and 40C (104F) heat — not what you’d usually expect at the Geneva International