As more and more business moves online, bad bots have become an increasingly serious threat to website owners. These malicious bots can cause a range of problems, from slowing down your site to stealing sensitive information
In 2022 the Imperva Threat Research team estimated that 27.7% of all online traffic is bad bots. These bad bots have become advanced and evasive than ever. These bots mimick human behavior in ways that make them harder to detect and prevent.
The three most frequent bot assaults were account takeover (ATO), price or content scraping, and scalping to acquire items with limited availability.
What are bad bots?
Bad bots are automated programs that are designed to interact with your website in a malicious way. Some of the most common types of bad bots include:
- Scrapers, which are bots that are designed to steal content from your site and repost it elsewhere.
- Spammers, which are bots that are designed to submit spam comments or other forms of unwanted content.
- Brute force bots, which are bots that are designed to repeatedly try to guess passwords or other login credentials.
- Click bots, which are bots that are designed to click on ads or other elements of your site in order to generate revenue for the bot owner.
How do bad bots work?
Bad bots typically work by scanning your website for vulnerabilities or weaknesses that they can exploit. For example, a scraper bot might search for pages on your site that don’t have any access controls, while a brute force bot might try to guess login credentials by systematically trying different combinations of usernames and passwords.
Once a bad bot has found a vulnerability, it will typically exploit it in one of several ways. For example, a scraper bot might use automated scripts to copy and repost your content, while a click bot might repeatedly click on ads to generate fraudulent revenue.
How to protect your website from bad bots
Protecting your website from bad bots requires a multi-faceted approach that includes both technical and procedural measures. Here are some steps you can take to protect your site from bad bots:
- Use a Web Application Firewall (WAF)
A WAF is a type of security software that helps protect your website from a wide range of cyber threats, including bad bots. WAFs can block traffic from known malicious IP addresses, as well as traffic that exhibits suspicious behavior patterns.
- Implement CAPTCHAs
CAPTCHAs are a type of test that helps prevent automated bots from accessing your website. By requiring users to complete a simple task, such as typing in a series of letters or solving a math problem, CAPTCHAs can help prevent bot-driven attacks.
- Monitor your website traffic
Regularly monitoring your website traffic can help you detect and block bad bots before they can cause any damage. By analysing your site logs and other data, you can identify patterns of suspicious behavior and take action to prevent further attacks.
- Secure your login pages
Many bad bots are designed to exploit vulnerabilities in login pages, such as weak passwords or unsecured login forms. To protect your site from these attacks, it’s essential to implement strong security measures on your login pages, such as multi-factor authentication and password strength requirements.
Bad bots are often the first indicator of online fraud
In the realm of digital commerce, malicious bad bots frequently indicate potential cybercrime and pose a risk to customers. In 2021, 65.6% of all destructive bots were classified as “evasive bad bots” which utilise the newest avoidance tactics.
These strategies include cycling through IP addresses, accessing anonymous proxies, changing identities, and imitating human behavior in order to evade detection.
The differnce between good bots and bad bots.
When categorising bots, the most straightforward method is to determine whether their purpose is beneficial or harmful. This is an effective method because the range of bot complexity is so vast that any other type of organisation quickly becomes ineffective.
Bots can be composed of only a few lines of code, which are utilised to automate a mundane task, or a combination of multiple scripts that simulate a human’s behavior.
- A good bot
An good bot is one that is designed to provide a helpful or beneficial service for your business or website users. It is not created with malicious goals in mind. Generally, it does not negatively affect or deteriorate the user experience of the websites it visits.
2. A bad bot
A bad bot is programmed to do something that would damage your business or website guests. It is developed with malicious intentions and will either directly or indirectly make the user experience of a website worse
Who creates these bad bots?
Cybercriminals, fraudsters, and other lawbreakers are the main creators of bad bots. Additionally, your opponents may take advantage of bad bots also.
The cost of bot traffic
Bot activity leads to financial losses for businesses The cost of bot traffic measured through digital ad fraud, is projected to reach $100 billion in 2023.
In conclusion, bad bots are a serious threat to website owners, and protecting your site from these malicious programs requires a multi-faceted approach.
Which country has the highest bot traffic?
According to the 2022 Imperva bad bot report, Singapore had the highest proportion of bad bot traffic in the region at 39.1%, followed by China with 38.6%. Next came Australia (25.7%), New Zealand (20.3%) and Japan (16.9%)
By using a WAF, implementing CAPTCHAs, monitoring your website traffic, and securing your login pages, you can reduce the risk of a bot-driven attack and protect your website and your users.
