CSO to use captcha in first online census in 2027 to protect against cyberattacks
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) is set to spend up to €120,000 on a “captcha” service to help prevent bots from accessing the country’s first online census platform in 2027.A captcha is a commonly used security measure on websites to distinguish between human and automated users.It presents easy-to-solve problems such as asking users to choose all of the images on the screen that show the likes of bikes or traffic lights.Unlike any previous census, which has been completed using handwritten forms dropped into households every five years, the next census in less than two years’ time will be the first to see a citizen web portal created online.“The 2027 census will primarily be a digital census where most householders will complete their census forms online,” the CSO said.“The CSO will use a Microsoft Dynamics Customer Relationship Management solution to deliver a single solution in the management of the census field operation and citizen interactions giving the CSO a single data source for all interactions.“To ensure the availability and security of the citizen web portal, the CSO requires a fast, reliable, accurate, secure and GDPR compliant captcha service.
The captcha service will be integrated into the citizen web portal and webforms where it will form part of the services and tools that will be used to protect the census systems from a cyberattack. A key milestone for the next census will be a system test pilot to take place next year to ensure all the systems work as intended in “as close to live conditions as possible”.During the live census field operation in 2027, it is expected up to five million such checks will be required.“The proposed solution must effectively distinguish between human users and automated attacks,” it said.It did specify, however, that multi-click and/or slide-and-drop verification options would not be considered.
