GIAC Foundational Cybersecurity Technologies Practice Test

What effect might a captcha have on a scanner?

1. Redirect the scanner to the same page in a loop

2. Proceed to the website as per normal

3. Shut the scanner down

4. Lock you out of the website

The correct answer is: Redirect the scanner to the same page in a loop

Choosing to indicate that a captcha can redirect the scanner to the same page in a loop is insightful because captchas are designed specifically to prevent automated access to websites. When a scanner, which operates automatically to crawl or analyze web pages, encounters a captcha, it often cannot proceed as it would require human interaction to solve the captcha challenge. The nature of captchas is that they present complex challenges that a typical scanner cannot resolve, leading to the situation where the scanner keeps requesting access to the same page without successfully moving forward. This can create a loop where the scanner continually attempts to access the page but is continually blocked by the captcha, effectively trapping it in an endless cycle of requests. This highlights the purpose of captchas in web security, which is to distinguish between human users and automated systems, thus protecting against bot activity. Consequently, the scanner's efforts to navigate the site are futile as long as the captcha remains unsolved.