Research: How GMail identify log-in request from automated clients?

[kazurayam]

You can make a test case script that opens browser and automatically navigate to GMail.

In 2019,
we could login to GMail without log in conversation; just as I do it manually, I could see my GMail in-box opened in the chrome browser.

• https://forum.katalon.com/t/how-to-login-to-gmail-and-check-number-of-email-in-inbox-exist/29811

However, since sometime in 2021, we can no longer log-in into GMail any longer.

• https://forum.katalon.com/t/cant-login-to-gmail-account/50341

In https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/7675428?co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&hl=en, Google wrote:

Sign in with a supported browser

To help protect your account, Google doesn’t let you sign in from some browsers. Google might stop sign-ins from browsers that: Don’t support JavaScript or have JavaScript turned off Have unsecure or unsupported extensions added Are being controlled through software automation rather than a human Are embedded in a different application

OK. I would recognise that Gmail is pretty secure. It is impossible to make my test case scripts automatically login into Gmail. But I am still curious to know how Gmail works. I have following questions.

Here I assume that I have a User Profile "Kazuaki" in Chrome browser on my Mac Book Air; I use the profile "Kazuaki" daily to open, read, write emails in GMail frequently. I want to open

• https://www.selenium.dev/blog/2021/announcing-selenium-4/
• https://rahulshettyacademy.com/blog/index.php/2021/11/04/selenium-4-key-feature-network-interception/#t-1636047172262
• https://forum.katalon.com/t/studio-8-2-1-alpha-is-now-available-with-selenium-4/61011

[kazurayam]

I want to see what is included in the HTTP Request Header when I try to navigate Chrome browser to the GMail URL.

Why? When I do it manually, I can open GMail without authentication (type username/password). But When I try to do the same, GMail refuses automating login; it requires me to type my credential. It's OK that GMail is designed secure. But I want to know how GMail controls this authentication processing. How GMail knows that a HTTP Request was sent by automated script or by human.

Selenium 4 supported Chrome DevTools Protocol. Katalon Studio v8.2.1-alpha bundled Selenium 4. So I can use CDP API via Selenium 4 in Katalon Studio v8.2.1-alpha.

[kazurayam]

"Selenium 4 Key Feature: Network Interception", by Rahul Shetty

• https://rahulshettyacademy.com/blog/index.php/2021/11/04/selenium-4-key-feature-network-interception/