It has become a daunting task for websites and applications to identify the traffic whether it is from humans or bots. The bots are becoming really sophisticated in the era of digital transformation and making it even more difficult for website owners and developers to differentiate between humans and bots.
Google’s reCAPTCHA approach
CAPTCHA stands for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart”. Google reCAPTCHA is an approach to protect websites from spam and abuse by making it difficult for bots to enter the websites or fill out the forms. The reCAPTCHA is powered by advanced risk analysis techniques which can separate the humans and bots. Every day, hundreds of millions of people solve Google reCAPTCHAs while browsing online.
However, the bots nowadays have become capable of solving the reCAPTCHAs and that is the reason Google has been updating the approach over the years. If the text is made difficult to read for bots, this will become difficult for humans as well. Hence, a program is needed which can make things tough for bots but easy for humans.
Types of reCAPTCHA
Google had started with the reCAPTCHA v1 which has now been shut down last year. Currently, there are four types of reCAPTCHAs available out there.
• reCAPTCHA v2
With this version, the visitor needs to click a checkbox to prove that he/she is a human. The visitor will either be able to easily enter without any further challenge, or there will be a need to validate further.
Developers can easily integrate this version on their site using a couple of lines of HTML code.
• reCAPTCHA v3
Google introduced reCAPTCHA v3 in October 2018. It can identify the abusive traffic without any interaction from users. It doesn’t show any CAPTCHA challenge but returns a score to the website owner to let them understand the suspiciousness of activity on website. They can further define visitors with what score should be allowed.
• reCAPTCHA Android
This version of reCAPTCHA is for protection from spam and abuse, used by Android applications. The developers need to integrate the library of Android APIs into their app. The visitors will have an experience like reCAPTCHA v2.
• Invisible reCAPTCHA
Invisible reCAPTCHA is free service by Google that allows website owners and developers to boost security of forms against spam and abuse. The users don’t need to type anything or click any checkbox to verify that they are human. It is an advanced version of reCAPTCHA that comes powered by machine learning technology to automatically differentiate between humans and bots. This is going to improve the user experience and make everything seamless for humans.
Enabling invisible reCAPTCHA in WHMCS 7.7
WHMCS is an automation platform for web hosting companies, that allows them to handle customer signup, provisioning, management, support and more. It is a leading web host billing automation platform that make management of web hosting business faster, easier, and more efficient.
WHMCS 7.7, the latest version of WHMCS, allows users to add invisible reCAPTCHA on several aspects of the website, such as login forms, ticket submission, and at the time of checking out.
Additionally, if users don’t want every form on the website to have reCAPTCHA, then it can be disabled for particular forms.
Having said that, following are the steps to enable Invisible reCAPTCHA in WHMCS.
- If you are using an earlier version of WHMCS, then first update to WHMCS 7.7. If you are a new user, then simply install the latest version.
- Then, login to the admin panel of WHMCS and scroll to Setup > Security.
- Now select the kind of CAPTCHA protection you need for the site. WHMCS suggest users the “Always On” for Invisible reCAPTCHA.
- There is a CAPTCHA type option, which has three options— Default (5-character verification code), reCAPTCHA v2, and Invisible reCAPTCHA. Select the third option from them.
- Now you have to enter the Google reCAPTCHA Site Key and reCAPTCHA Secret Key. If you don’t already have these keys, then get them from your Google account at no cost (https://www.google.com/recaptcha/admin).
- After these steps, check it again and then click Save. You have done it. The Invisible reCAPTCHA has been successfully applied to the forms on your site.
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Which forms allow you to enable Google Invisible reCAPTCHA in WHMCS?
There are a number of forms on which you can enable this reCAPTCHA. These forms include— Shopping Cart Checkout, Domain Checker, Client Registration, Contact Form, Ticket Submission, and Login Forms.
Suggested reading: Top 5 WHMCS features that help you comply with GDPR
If you have any query related to this, feel free to let us know via the comments section below.