Internship / Master Thesis: Are we losing the war against bots? Let's re-invent the CAPTCHA shield
Start date: February 2027 · Duration: 6 months
Please include your latest academic transcripts with your application. Applications submitted without transcripts will not be considered.
SECUTIX is an innovative ticketing partner for organisations in sport and culture. Its solutions support complex live event programmes, including Wimbledon and Major League Cricket. As the company grows internationally, it is expanding beyond ticketing technology to offer fully managed services, bringing together software and operational support for event organisers.
SECUTIX believes every fan should have a fair chance to secure a ticket. The reality is harsher: profit-driven operators target ticketing systems to buy tickets in bulk and resell them at inflated prices. AI and readily available botting tools, from residential IP proxies to CAPTCHA-solving services, are making bots harder to stop. The 2026 Thales Bad Bot Report estimates that bots accounted for over 53% of web traffic in 2025.
In this 6-month internship or master thesis starting in February 2027, you will help SECUTIX explore and develop new anti-bot defences, investigating mobile-assisted verification, device signals, behavioural analysis and innovative challenges that distinguish humans from bots. User experience is a core success criterion: protection must be effective without frustrating fans or making them abandon their purchase.
Your tasks
- Study ticket-buying bots and AI agents, and review CAPTCHA, bot-detection and identity-verification solutions on the market
- Devise innovative ways to block bots while letting human users through with minimal effort
- Compare mobile-assisted verification and other approaches for effectiveness, usability, privacy and accessibility
- Develop a prototype in a representative ticket-purchase flow
- Test bot resistance and user experience: false rejections, completion time, abandonment, satisfaction and performance under peak demand
What we offer
- A collaborative environment within an international team working on technology for live events
- An applied research topic at the intersection of cybersecurity, AI and digital ticketing
- The opportunity to prototype and evaluate solutions to a concrete challenge for fans and event organisers
- Experience turning experimental results into practical recommendations for a ticketing platform
About your profile
- Web development knowledge and familiarity with APIs and client-server architectures
- Strong interest in user experience: designing intuitive interactions and testing their usability with real users
- Interest in cybersecurity, cryptography, authentication and automated abuse prevention
- Mobile development knowledge (iOS or Android) is a plus
- Ability to design experiments, analyse results and communicate clear technical recommendations
Skills Required
- Latest academic transcripts must be submitted with the application
- Web development knowledge
- Familiarity with APIs and client-server architectures
- Strong interest in user experience and designing intuitive interactions
- Ability to test usability with real users
- Interest in cybersecurity, cryptography, authentication, and automated abuse prevention
- Ability to design experiments and analyze results
- Ability to communicate clear technical recommendations
- Mobile development knowledge for iOS or Android
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What We Do
With more than 2,300 experts, the ELCA Group is a leading independent Swiss IT service and solution provider, specialized in IT consulting, Cybersecurity, Cloud, Data & AI, Digital experience, Software development, Business applications and systems' integration across all industries. ELCA helps its clients to better compete in the digital era and gain in agility. The privately held company has offices in Pully (HQ), Zurich, Geneva, Bern, Basel, Rapperswil and Fehraltorf, as well as offshore centers in Italy, Spain, Mauritius and Vietnam.
