Those Weird Confirmation Numbers...
Hi Fred. What are those numbers and letters that some sites want you to enter for security reasons (I notice eBay has started to use the same on some entry points to their forms).
How do they actually help security?
And one other point - they make them so difficult to read - it normally takes me about three attempts before I get it correct - why so difficult to read?.
Love the news letter, in fact I get withdrawal symptoms if its not published or I miss it - Dave
The numbers do help, Dave. They're there to prevent spambots or other malicious users from flooding the form page with bogus data.
The numbers are presented as an image, rather than plain text, in order to prevent a simple script from copying and pasting the numbers on the form. And the numbers are distorted to prevent optical-character recognition software from reading the numbers in the image and doing the same thing. The idea is that--- absent some high-powered computing beyond the ability of most spammers and other malicious users--- only humans will be able to decipher the images of the numbers and correctly retype them on the form; thus ensuring that the form only gets used for legitimate purposes.
Yes, the numbers can sometimes be hard even for humans; some sites offer an audio link that *speaks* the numbers to you. The same principle applies: For the most part, only humans will be able to listen to the audio and type in the numbers correctly.
If you're having trouble with the visually-disguised numbers on a site, tell the webmaster (usually listed at the bottom of the page, or on the "contact us" page). If they know people are having trouble, they can add the audio option to make things easier for humans, but still beyond most malicious software's ability.
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