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Bernard Baker
Bernard Baker

Posted on

Gamifying Authentication

Has anyone recently seen what appears to be a new way of authenticating that the person filling in the form is a real person?

Twilio has recently updated its sign-in process.

I was greeted with am upside down Polar bear with instructions on how to play the game. In order to prove that I was a real person. And not a zombie 🧟.

It also timed me!

Has anyone else seen something like this?

Top comments (8)

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meatboy profile image
Meat Boy

Basically everything that can require web api and interaction is for small website good enough. However, remember there are users with disabilities and accessibility is a very important aspect when creating captcha. Today captcha is for making attack unprofitable (in terms of real money and time). I am just starting a new series about creating own HIP solution. Even if not perfect, maybe it would help someone.

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bernardbaker profile image
Bernard Baker

That's a very interesting point. Maybe WAI could solve those issues that would need to be addressed.

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philnash profile image
Phil Nash

Oh wow, I haven't seen that either (and I log into Twilio a lot 😄).

I think there has been an increase in friction over the years with Google's ReCAPTCHA, especially as it seemed we were being used to train bots rather than prove we were human. Plus, if you can train bots to recognise the items in the CAPTCHA, then bots can solve the CAPTCHA and they aren't much use any more.

Turning it into a game means you are looking for behaviour, not the ability to solve a puzzle. And it's more fun, which hopefully doesn't dampen the experience for the user quite so much.

I hope I do come across this test soon!

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bernardbaker profile image
Bernard Baker

I saw it on another website. Forgot the address.

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

I haven't seen this yet, but I'm intrigued. Fighting spam and abuse is obviously a big deal for DEV and ideally it can be done in a somewhat interesting way.

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bernardbaker profile image
Bernard Baker

I saw it the other day. It reminds me of the images that are in a grid and you are asked to pick the grid items that have something in them.

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patrickroethlisberger profile image
Patrick Röthlisberger

Some Chinese companies (for example binance) use geetest.com/en which is quite a lot of fun.

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bernardbaker profile image
Bernard Baker

I watched the video. Impressive.