Bots can be a real scourge for your marketing results related to your website. To prevent these bots from distorting the results of your forms, email sends, etc., it is necessary to implement anti-bot solutions on your website. In this article, let’s look at which tools integrated into Webmecanik Automation are available and how to choose them.
How do anti-bot solutions work?
CAPTCHA solutions (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) are tests that automatically detect whether a user is a human or a robot on a website. Bots have recognizable and identifiable behavior (very fast clicks, inconsistent sequences of page visits, etc.) thanks to algorithms.
There are several types of tests that you have no doubt already encountered while browsing:
- visual recognition: click on the kittens in an image ?, retype a string of distorted characters, give the result of a simple addition and prove that you are indeed human.
- audio recognition: listen to an audio description and transcribe what you have just heard.
- behavioral recognition: no more tests, your behavior on the site is analyzed, you simply have to tick a box “I am not a robot” to submit your form.
You can implement anti-bot solutions on your website and thus keep consistent and accurate performance statistics. Webmecanik Automation natively integrates two applications that you can use for your forms: Google reCAPTCHA as well as the Turnstile solution, published by Cloudflare.
The famous Google reCAPTCHA
Google reCAPTCHA is the most widely used solution with 96% market share. Available in its v3 version, which uses behavioral recognition, Google assigns a score to users based on their actions on your site. The promise of this detection tool is to maintain harmony in the user experience by avoiding an intermediate verification step. To find out more about how Google reCAPTCHA works, we suggest their article introducing the tool.
How to set up Google ReCAPTCHA on Webmecanik Automation?
Cloudflare and its Turnstile solution
An alternative that we have chosen to offer on Webmecanik Automation to combat bots is the Turnstile application offered by Cloudflare, a major player in protection against cyberattacks. This CAPTCHA solution relies on information already collected by third parties (such as device manufacturers), which avoids the collection, modification, or storage of data.
From the user’s perspective, the solution is similar to Google’s reCAPTCHA V3, and the user therefore does not need to undergo a test.
How to set up Cloudflare Turnstile on Webmecanik Automation?
The GDPR choice
The use of Google’s anti-bot solution in the “StopCovid” application having already resulted in a formal notice from the Ministry of Solidarity and Health as well as other companies, Webmecanik decided to take the lead and look for an alternative solution to Google reCAPTCHA.
Please note, the CNIL does not clearly condemn the Google reCAPTCHA solution as non-compliant with the GDPR. However, improper use of the latter (particularly in collecting consent from users of your site) can lead to sanctions, as was the case for the Ministry of Health. The Turnstile solution therefore seems to be a relevant alternative since it does not rely on the direct collection of personal data.
In short, if you want to continue using Google reCAPTCHA, be sure to mention to your users that you collect their personal data and make sure to obtain their consent. ?
