Researchers mimic board game to bolster computer security

University researchers have built a program that mimics the way people play the memory game Concentration, opening the possibility of improving computer security by distinguishing human behavior from bots.

The study, conducted by North Carolina State University researchers, sets the groundwork for one day being able to integrate within software highly accurate bot-detection programs to prevent computer fraud.

Bots are software applications that run automated tasks over the Internet. While having legitimate purposes, such as fetching information from websites for search queries, bots are also used by scalpers to buy large quantities of tickets from ticketing sites and to infiltrate online in-game economies to amass virtual currency.

The NCSU researchers set out to see whether they could simulate people’s thought processes in playing Concentration, a solitaire game in which cards are arranged facedown on a grid and a person tries to find matching pairs.

SOURCE: csoonline.com