Getting Started

Follow the steps below to get started right away with RetroCapture.

Step 0: Develop a Web-Based Application

We assume that you have a web-based application, developed in any language, and that you are concerned about web-robots abusing the services you provide. This is a common problem for providers of web-based applications. Part of the solution is to protect your software with a RetroCapture image. People can easily read the warped passphrase in the image and gain access to your software but web-robots cannot interpret the image and are stopped.

Step 1: Download RetroCapture

Download the application, and unzip it.

Step 2: Generate some RetroCapture images

Generate a number of RetroCapture images:

mkdir capture-image
java -jar retrocapture.jar -d capture-image -m capture-image/capture.map 1000:lite

Step 3: Add a form to your web-based software

Add a form to your application that:

• selects an image and passphrase listed in the capture-image/capture.map file;
• displays the associated image from capture-image/*.gif and includes the following form fields:
  • a hidden field containing the image file-name;
  • a text-box where the user will type the passphrase;
  • a submit button;
• after the user submits the form, check that the submitted passphrase matches the passphrase for this image listed in capture-image/capture.map.

This simple method of generating a fixed number of images and selecting from them at random will work fine to protect a site with relatively low traffic. For greater security, you can integrate RetroCapture directly into your web-application and generate a new image for each user session that you need to validate.

To keep your web-application accessible for persons with disabilities, it is important to provide an alternative verification method. For example, you could provide a toll-free phone number for user assistance.

Click 'Next' to learn more about RetroCapture.