It is checking if you have had the 5G Covid browser tracing injection

Prob checking IP reputation to ensure its not a bot etc

Its @freitasm plot to take over the world. He plans this every night I have seen the movie.

xpd:

 

Prob checking IP reputation to ensure its not a bot etc

 

This is done way before the request gets into the server.

Rikkitic:

 

What is actually being checked when the 'checking your browser' page pops up? I am repeatedly getting this when I click on a post.

 

Some strange browser behaviour was detected based on previous actions around the site and everything is assigned a score. Scores that are similar to those assigned to bots are shown a script that will block bad bots.

This could be caused by an extension blocking some parts of a page, too many page requests in very little time (as in thousand views in a few minutes), a browser with no cookies enabled previously (or cookies cleaned recently) and so on. Too many factors get into the calculation.

The more you use a browser the better its reputation becomes and less this will show up. I look at the stats every day to see if things are working as they should. This is the last 24 hours - you must be one of the lucky 13 people in the chart below:

You have accessed Geekzone 339 times (this is counting some automated actions plus ten times you've clicked the +1 button) in the last 24 hours and had one challenge. The box below the chart shows the challenge time and page visited (removed some details):

At the end, a lot of automation exists to stop malicious bot and make sure we don't get inundated with crap...

Rikkitic:

 

I am repeatedly getting this when I click on a post.

 

I doubt it. From the logs you were only asked once in the last 24 hours (or at least on one browser) - so hardly "repeatedly".

You do use a lot of different browsers though and some have lower reputation than others.

https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/154975/what-is-the-website-checking-about-my-browser-to-protect-the-website-from-a-ddos 

freitasm:

 

Rikkitic:

 

I am repeatedly getting this when I click on a post.

 

 

I doubt it. From the logs you were only asked once in the last 24 hours (or at least on one browser) - so hardly "repeatedly".

 

You do use a lot of different browsers though and some have lower reputation than others.

 

I haven't counted but I did get several over the last few days. Otherwise I wouldn't have commented on it. Most (if not all) would have been on my laptop which uses the regular Chrome browser. I also have Firefox on the laptop but rarely use that.

My guess (like I say, I wasn't counting) would be more than a half-dozen recent challenges, but probably less than a dozen. Just enough to make me wonder.

Lias:

 

https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/154975/what-is-the-website-checking-about-my-browser-to-protect-the-website-from-a-ddos 

 

The OP asked "what is being checked" and this explains perfectly. The part I posted is basically the "why is being checked". 

Rikkitic:

 

My guess (like I say, I wasn't counting) would be more than a half-dozen recent challenges, but probably less than a dozen. Just enough to make me wonder.

 

Your current IP address was challenged twice in the last 72 hours.

Two machines - two different browsers. One running Windows 10 and one running Windows 7.

So again, not a half-dozen times either.

I can't argue with your stats but it had to be more than two times. I'm sure it was at least 4 or 5 in the last week. I know in the past I have sometimes forgotten my VPN so possibly different IPs. Otherwise I don't understand it.

Yes, I am only looking at a single IP (the latest one you are using). If you have used a VPN in the past then it would have been outright blocked or at least lowered the score even more.

In addition to that, I want to make sure people understand this is not something we do to prevent you personally from accessing the site. With millions of requests every month - and a few troublemakers around - I have put a lot of effort into making sure we stay at least a bit clean when it comes to security and safety - trying to keep spammers and scammers at a safe distance. The system is refined every day and sometimes we see a problem here or there and I fix it to make it smarter.   

I wasn't complaining about this. The 5-second check certainly isn't onerous. I was just curious what it was checking. I am getting flaky in my old age and I know it, but I really am not making this up. Whether it was a VPN or something else, I did get multiple checks over a recent block of time. Maybe it was more than one week. My sense of time isn't always that great either. In any case, I am not arguing with your stats. Or your reasons!

gzt: Sounds like Rikkitic might experiencing a check rather than a challenge.

 

Cloudflare gives two ways of doing the same "challenge". One is a CAPTCHA challenge, the other is the "Check" which is basically a cryptographic problem to be solved by a script. They both are "challenges" but one is automated and the other is manual. I know how people hate the manual one.