Failsafes

At adCAPTCHA, we prioritise reliability. Our systems are designed to ensure maximum uptime, so the chances of an outage are minimal. However, no system is infallible, and in the rare event of downtime, we want our customers to know what to expect and how to respond.

How We Ensure High Availability

We employ several strategies to maintain high availability and prevent outages:

Rigorous Testing in a Production-Like Environment: Before any update reaches our live systems, it undergoes rigorous testing in an environment that mirrors our production setup. We use a combination of automated and manual testing to identify potential issues before they affect customers. Automated tests run continuously, covering everything from unit tests to full system integration tests, while manual testing ensures edge cases are thoroughly examined.
Globally Distributed Content Delivery Network (CDN): Our challenge scripts and assets are distributed via a global CDN (Content Delivery Network), ensuring that end-users can access them from the nearest geographical server. This minimises latency and improves resilience—if one CDN node experiences an issue, traffic is automatically routed to an alternative node.
Autoscaling Infrastructure: We have designed adCAPTCHA to autoscale with demand. Our backend dynamically adjusts resources to handle spikes in traffic without degradation in performance. Whether it’s a sudden influx of users or a large-scale bot attack, our system scales up to maintain stability and scales down when demand decreases.
24/7 Monitoring and Incident Response: Our systems are monitored 24/7 by a dedicated team of engineers. We use a combination of automated monitoring tools and manual checks to ensure that everything is running smoothly. In the event of an incident, our team is on call to respond immediately and resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
Redundant Systems and Data Backups: We maintain redundant systems and data backups to ensure that your data is safe and accessible at all times. In the unlikely event of a system failure, we can quickly switch to a backup system to minimise downtime and data loss. Our backups are stored securely and regularly tested to ensure they are up to date.
Disaster Recovery Testing: We have a comprehensive disaster recovery plan in place to handle worst-case scenarios. We regularly test this plan to ensure that it is effective and up to date. By simulating various failure scenarios, we can identify weaknesses in our systems and processes and make improvements to increase resilience.

What to Do If adCAPTCHA Goes Offline

Despite these precautions, unexpected outages can happen. If you suspect adCAPTCHA is offline:

Check Our Status Page – We provide real-time updates on our system status, including any active incidents or maintenance.
Failover to a Backup Mechanism – We recommend having a fallback mechanism in place, such as temporarily bypassing CAPTCHA verification. This will ensure that users are not blocked from accessing your website.
Monitor for Recovery – Outages (if they occur) will be short-lived due to our auto-recovery mechanisms. In most cases, the service will be restored within minutes.
Contact Support – If you experience prolonged issues, reach out to us for assistance.

By ensuring a highly available system and preparing for rare failures, we aim to provide a seamless experience for our customers while maintaining robust security.