Wednesday, June 10, 2009

D-Link introduces router with “CAPTCHA”

Security threats to your computer at home these days just aren’t limited to viruses being transmitted from floppies, they range from surfing less than desirable sites to downloading cracks and patches (basically, anything illegal is a prime suspect for malicious scripts and spyware to be installed on your machine without your knowledge). Apart from that, newer forms of Internet security attacks on home and small office computers include compromising networks at a place where users least expect it - their routers.

D-Link

These once unheard of software invasions will involve a Trojan horse being downloaded without the user’s knowledge when running common tasks, and it will subsequently invade the router to detect wireless capabilities, changing the victim’s domain name system (DNS) records in the process so that every single bit of future traffic will be diverted via the attackers’ network first. D-Link being a well known name when it comes to routers have come up with a new range of these devices that have integrated CAPTCHA.

What is CAPTCHA? CAPTCHA is actually an acronym for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. Well, this is a system that was specially designed to detect if the responses generated are by humans or computers as an added measure of security.

You know that if you want to sign up for a new email account or even access your forgotten password, there often appears a small box of warped text and figures which you have to key in to prevent the computer from classifying you as a bot? That’s what CAPTCHA is all about, although it isn’t exactly a fool-proof plan since older folks more often than not have a hard time trying to decipher what the CAPTCHA is trying to say, resulting in more frustration. Guess this is where they need to call upon the help of their kids and put their college education (in IT) to good use.

This electronic device is sure a boon for those affected by security threats.


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