Enhancing Bot Protection : enhancing Bot Protection by Transitioning from Google reCAPTCHA (V2) to AWS WAF CAPTCHA
Lethoko, Andrew (2025)
2025
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025060520686
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025060520686
Tiivistelmä
This thesis was written for the GivenGain Foundation. GivenGain is an international non-profit that operates a global online fundraising platform, enabling charities to receive donations from supporters worldwide. Established in 2001, GivenGain facilitates fundraising activities in over 190 countries, connecting fundraisers, events, and donors to support various charitable causes.
The purpose of this thesis was to address the issue of unwanted automated software (bots) accessing the GivenGain platform by implementing a CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) solution. The thesis looked at implementing and evaluating AWS WAF CAPTCHA whilst transitioning away from the existing Google reCAPTCHA solution. This involved assessing the strengths and challenges of CAPTCHA solutions, reviewing their history as well as other available methods that could address unwanted bots.
The result of this thesis was a proof of concept that was developed and tested against multiple scenarios such as automated access attempts and VPN usage. The conclusion was that although AWS WAF CAPTCHA was more cost efficient and easier to maintain for developers, it failed in the important test of combating the automated access attempts on the GivenGain platform.
The purpose of this thesis was to address the issue of unwanted automated software (bots) accessing the GivenGain platform by implementing a CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) solution. The thesis looked at implementing and evaluating AWS WAF CAPTCHA whilst transitioning away from the existing Google reCAPTCHA solution. This involved assessing the strengths and challenges of CAPTCHA solutions, reviewing their history as well as other available methods that could address unwanted bots.
The result of this thesis was a proof of concept that was developed and tested against multiple scenarios such as automated access attempts and VPN usage. The conclusion was that although AWS WAF CAPTCHA was more cost efficient and easier to maintain for developers, it failed in the important test of combating the automated access attempts on the GivenGain platform.