The security software Captcha has become one of the most commonly-seen features on modern websites. In order to prevent automated services accessing web pages, Captcha presents a random string of letters and numbers, which users have to enter by hand to proceed further. The tool was perceived to be a strong security feature, owing to the fact that automated services could not get past this step. That perception has been shattered by a group of IT experts, who have developed software called Decaptcha, which was able to crack the Captcha code. The Decaptcha software had differing results across different websites, but saw an 82% success rate on eBay, 45% on Yahoo and 42% on Digg. Captcha stands for Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart and was first developed in 2000. It was originally used by Yahoo email as a means of preventing masses of unwanted spam email being sent by automated programmes. The software offers users the capability either to type in distorted characters shown on screen or have them read out as an audio file. It is the audio option that has exposed a security vulnerability. The Decaptcha software can analyze the audio file, identifying numbers and letters based on previous files. With only a limited number of characters available, it can crack the code on the software within around 20 minutes. The flaws of Captcha have been in the headlines before. In 2010, four Californian men were indicted on charges of fraud, conspiracy and computer hacking after allegedly making more than $25 million by reselling more than 1.5 million concert tickets purchased online. The men used a network of computers to crack the Captcha code on sites like Ticketmaster and snapped up tickets for the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Miley Cyrus, selling them on at inflated prices. The publication of Decaptcha has further enhanced fears over the security and suitability of the tool to protect buyers online. IT experts say that websites need to quickly revisit their use of Captcha to ensure that this flaw cannot be taken advantage of. One simple answer, of course, is simply to turn off the audio option, but that can cause issues for partially sighted web users, who can struggle to read the distorted text images presented via the other route. That aside, site owners will need to address the concerns raised by this news. Privacy and security remain the top concerns for most Internet users and are a genuine barrier to increasing the amount of business that consumers are prepared to undertake online. Category:Home › Other • Pomegranates: A newly discovered superfood • Where did the joke why did the chicken cross the road come from and why is it funny? • Can mothers diagnosed with bipolar disorder make good parents? • Spiritual evolution of human consciousness • Tips for getting a college basketball scholarship • Living with Pseudotumor cerebri (PTC) • Caring for the caregiver • Technologys impact on society