If you tried to read a story on stljewishlight.org recently and were asked to click a box confirming you’re not a robot, you weren’t alone.

Several readers contacted the Jewish Light after encountering security verification screens before accessing stories. A reader said she was uncomfortable with the message and unsure whether she should click through.

We saw it, too. I personally encountered the verification screen multiple times while navigating the site over the past several days.

Here’s what’s happening.

What readers are seeing

The screen comes from Cloudflare, a widely used internet security service that helps protect websites from hacking attempts, automated scraping and other suspicious traffic.

When certain traffic patterns are detected, the system may temporarily require visitors to complete a simple verification check before continuing.

Why this is happening

Student News Online (SNO), the company that provides the Jewish Light’s website platform, said the prompts are triggered automatically and are not unique to this publication.

“When our system detects unusual traffic patterns, typically scraping or attack-like behavior, it temporarily enables Cloudflare’s verification layer for about four hours,” said Jason Wallestad of SNO Sites support. “That ‘I’m not a robot’ check is Cloudflare confirming visitors are real people and not bots. It’s a very common, industry-standard protection used across the web.”

Wallestad said the increase in our security reflects broader changes happening across the internet.

“These checks appear more often right now because there has been a significant global increase in automated traffic, especially from AI systems that scan websites to gather content,” he said.

News sites are frequent targets

Wallestad said news organizations often see more of this activity because of how frequently they publish new material.

“On your site, roughly two-thirds of incoming requests are from automated bots, including search engines, AI crawlers and scrapers,” he said. “News sites are particularly affected because they produce high-quality, frequently updated content.”

He said these protections help prevent automated traffic from slowing the site or interfering with access for real readers.

Is it safe to click the verification box?

Yes.

Wallestad said the verification process is a normal and safe part of website security.

“The ‘I’m not a robot’ check is a standard, safe security measure used across the internet to distinguish real visitors from automated traffic,” he said. “Cloudflare does not ask for personal or sensitive information in this process. It’s simply verifying that the visitor is human.”

Readers should still make sure they are on stljewishlight.org before interacting with any verification screen. On the Jewish Light site, the check should only involve clicking a checkbox or briefly waiting while the system verifies the connection. It should never ask for passwords or personal information.

I repeat, it and we, will never ask you for passwords or personal information to access our content.

Will readers keep seeing this?

Maybe, but not constantly.

SNO said the protections are typically temporary and may turn on automatically during periods of unusual traffic, then turn off once activity returns to normal.

Wallestad said the system may occasionally re-enable itself if traffic patterns require it.

The bottom line

While the extra step can feel inconvenient, it is part of the behind-the-scenes work required to keep modern news websites functioning normally.

And if you had to click the box recently, you didn’t do anything wrong. You just proved what you already knew: you’re human.