Protecting a Cloudflare sign-up journey against automated fake accounts

How SiARA Shield stopped a high-speed automated registration workflow that used CAPTCHA-solving services, disposable emails, rotating infrastructure and fresh sessions.

Website Create Account journey protected against automated fake sign-ups
Public website sign-up journey — existing Cloudflare control with email verification.

A public website was facing large-scale automated registrations despite security controls on the sign-up journey. Attackers combined commercial CAPTCHA-solving services, disposable email addresses, rotating proxies and fresh browser sessions to automate the complete registration flow.

When a full fraudulent sign-up finishes in under ten seconds — what stops thousands of fake accounts per hour?

In the observed scenario, the CAPTCHA-solving step returned in under two seconds and a complete fraudulent sign-up finished in less than ten seconds on average.

After SiARA Shield was introduced as an additional human-verification layer, automated registrations were reduced to near zero while genuine users continued through the normal journey.

At a glance

Cloudflare-protected sign-up journey

Environment
Public website
Existing control
Cloudflare
Channel
Web registration / Create Account
Use case
Fake sign-up protection
Solution
SiARA Shield by CyberSiARA
Attack pattern
CAPTCHA solving · disposable email · rotating proxy / session
Observed speed
< 2 sec CAPTCHA solve · < 10 sec full fake sign-up
Objective
Stop automation before account creation without friction for genuine users
Key results

High-speed abuse stopped. Acquisition protected.

< 2 sec

CAPTCHA-solving response observed in the attack workflow.

< 10 sec

average end-to-end automated fake sign-up before SiARA Shield.

Near zero

automated registrations after SiARA Shield was introduced.

Lower cost

less wasted compute, email and OTP activity from fake accounts.

The challenge

A complete automated attack in under ten seconds

The registration endpoint was being targeted by high-volume automation. Every successful fake account created additional application, database, email and monitoring activity.

Attackers did not need to defeat every control directly. Commercial solving services could handle the verification step while automation completed the rest of the registration journey.

Disposable emails, rotating proxies or IP addresses and fresh sessions allowed the workflow to continuously present new identities — making simple reputation rules harder to rely on.

Automated fake sign-up workflow completing in under ten seconds
With a full sign-up under ten seconds, one workflow can be replicated into thousands of fraudulent registrations per hour.
Observed attack flow

Fresh identity. Fast solve. Repeat at scale.

Existing perimeter and application controls remained in place. SiARA Shield added another protection layer — stopping automation before account creation completes.

1. Fresh identity Disposable email + new session
2. Registration opened Sign-up journey loaded
3. Verification handled Solving service < 2 sec
4–6. Form + email + account Full fake sign-up < 10 sec
SiARA Shield Human verification before creation
Allow genuine / block automation

The objective is not to replace Cloudflare or other controls — it is to prevent automated systems from completing the customer journey at scale.

The SiARA Shield approach

Stop the automation before account creation

SiARA Shield adds a human-verification layer to the sign-up journey — alongside existing perimeter and application security.

Human verification layer

Confirm a genuine person is behind the registration before the automated workflow finishes.

Complement existing controls

Works alongside Cloudflare and other protections — an additional layer, not a replacement.

Low friction for customers

Legitimate users continue through registration without unnecessary extra challenge friction.

Cut verification waste

Fewer fake accounts means fewer email, OTP and identity-verification events to process.

Less cleanup workload

Security, fraud and operations teams spend less time investigating synthetic registrations.

Results & business impact

From high-speed fake sign-ups to protected acquisition

After SiARA Shield activation, high-volume automated registration activity fell to near-zero levels while genuine customers could still complete the journey.

That protects analytics integrity, reduces infrastructure waste and lowers the cost of chasing disposable identities.

High-volume automated registrations declined to near-zero activity after SiARA Shield was placed on the sign-up journey.
Security & business impact

Protect registration before fake accounts become a business cost

Stopping automation early protects acquisition quality, infrastructure spend and team time — while genuine customers keep a smooth path to sign up.

Add SiARA Shield alongside existing controls to stop automated account creation at scale.

Impact after deployment

  • Cleaner customer data — fewer synthetic accounts improve analytics and conversion reporting.
  • Reduced infrastructure waste — automated requests stopped before unnecessary downstream processing.
  • Lower verification expense — fewer email, OTP and identity-verification events.
  • Reduced manual workload — less investigation and cleanup for fraud and operations teams.
  • Stronger fraud prevention — attackers lose cheap pools of accounts for promo abuse or spam.
  • Customer experience maintained — legitimate users continue without unnecessary friction.
Why it matters

Perimeter controls alone may not stop a scripted journey

When CAPTCHA solving, disposable identities and session rotation run in seconds, fake accounts become an infrastructure and data problem — not just a security alert.

This deployment shows how SiARA Shield can protect the registration journey by verifying humans before account creation completes.

Campaign and performance figures are based on operational information from the observed Cloudflare-protected website registration deployment. Figures such as CAPTCHA-solving response time and end-to-end sign-up duration are approximate observations from the attack workflow described in this case study. CyberSiARA claims no ownership of Cloudflare trademarks or associated intellectual property; Cloudflare is referenced only as the existing control environment.

See what is reaching your applications

Protect the registration journey before fake accounts become a cost centre.

SiARA Shield by CyberSiARA adds human verification alongside the controls you already have — without unnecessary friction for real users.