Imagine a world where up to 27.7% of all online traffic is driven by malicious bot activity, posing a significant threat to businesses and individuals alike. The reality is, that world is already here. How can you protect your web applications and APIs from the ever-evolving threat of bot attacks? Let’s take a look and dive into the complex nature of the question of “what is a bot attack” and provide you with the know-how to defend your digital assets against these sophisticated adversaries.
Key Takeaways
- Comprehension of bot attacks is essential to use bot management to protect digital infrastructure from malicious activities and data theft.
- Common types of bot attacks include credential stuffing, web scraping, checkout fraud, SMS fraud, and fake account creation. Understanding their anatomy is key for successful bot detection and prevention.
- Best practices such as leveraging technology, creating a baseline, user education and partnering with a bot detection company are critical in defending against these threats.
Understanding Bot Attacks
Bot attacks, also known as automated bot attacks, are programs that can be employed for various purposes, including:
- Breaking into accounts
- Testing stolen credit cards
- Buy out in-demand products
- Disrupting networks or services
- Stealing data
Given that malicious bot traffic comprises an estimated 27.7% of all online activity, the significance of bot attacks is undeniable. Thus, understanding the nature, evolution, and prevention of bot attacks proves essential in safeguarding your digital ecosystem.
The Dual Nature of Bots
Bots are simply a tool designed to automate tasks, because of this bots can carry out helpful activities or be used for malicious purposes. While legitimate search engine bots are used to index websites and improve search results, malicious bots can be used for activities such as stealing data or disrupting services.
This inherent duality underscores the necessity to grasp the potential risks and benefits of bots and makes distinguishing between good and bad bots crucial for online businesses.
Evolution of Bot Attacks
Bot attacks have advanced from initial spamming operations to intricate, multinational criminal organizations with their own economic and infrastructural systems. One of the most prominent types of bot attacks is credential stuffing, where bots use stolen usernames and passwords to gain unauthorized access to user accounts.
Other types of bot attacks include:
- Sneaker bots, also known as scalper or grinch bots, these bots target in-demand or limited edition products. Bots give adversaries an unfair advantage over real customers allowing them to check out large quantities of the items. Botters will then resell the items at a massive markup.
- Freebie bots, these bots monitor online retail sites looking for incorrectly priced items. Bots then purchase the product before the error can be fixed, and resell the items for a profit.
- Content scraping, where bots automatically extract and copy content from websites. With this information attackers can gain a competitive advantage or create counterfeit sites.
- Social media bots, these bots create accounts on social media platforms in order to spread misinformation.
Solver Services, which can be found in botting communities sell bypasses to legacy anti-bot solutions. Allowing less technical attackers to leverage bad bots without having to reverse engineer businesses defenses.
The scope of bot attacks has expanded beyond DDoS attacks to include assaults on web applications and APIs, leveraging tactics such as credential stuffing, web scraping, and check out fraud. With the increasing sophistication of automated attacks, implementing robust security measures to detect and prevent is becoming even more critical.
Common Types of Bot Attacks
When it comes to web applications and APIs, some of the most frequently observed bot attacks include credential stuffing, web scraping, and check out fraud. These types of attacks can have severe consequences, such as service disruptions, data breaches, reputational damage, and financial losses.
Comprehending these prevalent bot attacks and their potential impact aids tremendously in formulating effective defensive strategies.
Credential Stuffing
Credential stuffing attacks involve the use of malicious automation to test stolen username and password combinations, to find accounts that have reused credentials. When attackers successfully takeover an account they are able to lock out legitimate users and acquire their personally identifiable information (PII), make fraudulent purchases, and steal saved loyalty points. The success rate of these account takeover attacks is low, averaging around 0.1%, which is why attacks need automation to launch their attacks at scale.
Preventing credential stuffing necessitates the adoption of robust authentication methods like multi-factor authentication and leveraging a modern bot detection solution that can identify and block the malicious automation with bot detection techniques needed to conduct credential stuffing attacks at a profitable scale.
Web Scraping
Web scraping involves the use of bots to extract website content without authorization, which can be misused for malicious objectives. Scraping can be used to obtain a variety of web content, such as:
- written copy
- images
- HTML/CSS code
- metadata
- e-commerce data
The potential risks associated with web scraping include the misuse of scraped content for malicious purposes, such as repurposing it on fraudulent websites or stealing proprietary information. Protecting your web applications against web scraping bots requires vigilant monitoring of web traffic and the implementation of security measures to block unauthorized access.
Check Out Fraud
Check out fraud can take many different forms. Bots can allow attackers to test massive lists of stolen credit cards quickly by making small purchases and reporting back which were successful. Carding attacks can tarnish merchant history, leading to high charges from payment processors on future card authorizations or even a partnership termination with a payment processor if the problem is not addressed.
Bots, known as scalper bots, can also hoard inventory, buying out items in order to resell them later at a massive markup or simply adding all available inventory to a cart making it look like a product is out of stock forcing customers to make their purchases elsewhere. Both can lead to lost revenue, increased operational costs, dissatisfied customers, and reputational damage.
Anatomy of a Bot Attack
An effective fight against bot attacks requires a thorough knowledge of their structure, which includes stages such as reconnaissance, setup, attack, retooling and outcome.
By examining these stages and the methods attackers use to execute bot attacks, such as custom code manipulation, we can gain valuable insight into how to detect and prevent them.
Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is the process of collecting information concerning a target or a system to gain insight and comprehension. In the context of a bot attack, this stage involves gathering information about the target and identifying potential vulnerabilities. Reconnaissance activities can include scanning for open ports, gathering information about the target’s network architecture and security solutions, and identifying potential entry points.
A thorough understanding of the reconnaissance stage in a bot attack aids in threat identification and the deployment of proactive security measures to thwart such attacks.
Attack
The execution stage of a bot attack involves the utilization of custom code, solver services, or botnets to carry out the attack. Attackers typically manipulate the frequency and duration of automated attacks to maximize their impact and evade detection.
By understanding the execution stage, organizations can better prepare their defenses and develop strategies to counteract bot attacks.
Retooling
Attacks don’t stop after the first wave. Typically anti-bot solutions can block the initial wave of an attack. Botters of course learn from their defeat, once the attack is blocked they get to work reverse engineering defenses and retooling their automation. Motivated attackers will launch multi-waved attacks until they are successful or defenses prove to be too time consuming and difficult, making reverse engineering them unprofitable.
Understanding and countering the retooling phase is the most crucial step in stopping bot attacks. Automated attacks are a war of attrition, blocking bots is important for immediate protection, but making retooling too costly to conduct is the key to remain effective in the long term.
Outcome
The outcome of a successful bot attack can range from accounts being taken over, to customers being beat out for your products. The consequences of a successful bot attack are varied and contingent on the motives of the attacker, including service disruption, data compromise, reputational harm, and financial detriment.
If your defenses can remain resilient to retooling, attackers will move on to an easier target, keeping your business and customers safe.
By analyzing the outcomes of bot attacks, organizations can adjust their security measures and strategies to minimize the impact of future attacks.
Detecting and Mitigating Bot Attacks
Detecting and mitigating bot attacks requires a combination of proactive security measures and the ability to respond effectively when an attack occurs. Determining if you have a bot problem , taking action against bot attacks, and leveraging a modern bot detection solution for protection are key strategies in defending against these bad bots an the threats they bring.
Determining if you Have a Bot Problem
There are a few ways you can analyze your traffic to see if automated threats are hitting your online channels. Indicators to monitor are:
- Day-Night cycles: Human traffic shows clear spikes during the day and lower traffic during the night. Bots operate 24 hours a day. If you can’t see a clear day-night cycle in your traffic, you may have a bot problem.
- Irregular bursts in traffic: Sudden spikes in traffic to specific endpoints that were not driven by marketing activities could mean that traffic is automated.
- Cost Surge: Unforeseen increases in operational costs or higher than usual two factor authentication expenses may be driven by a bot attack.
By monitoring these signs and comparing them with your baseline data you should be able to identify if your online channels have a bot problem. These methods are a good first step, however a modern anti-bot solution will be able to give you a deeper understanding into your traffic and determine how much of it is malicious automation.
Taking Action Against Bot Attacks
To effectively address bot attacks, a range of measures can be adopted, such as:
- Implementing robust security protocols
- Keeping software up-to-date and patched
- Monitoring and analyzing website traffic
- Utilizing bot detection and mitigation tools
- Educating users and personnel
- Implementing strong authentication methods
- Regularly backing up data
- Collaborating with industry partners
These measures can help organizations prevent and defend against bot attacks, ensuring their digital assets remain secure and accessible.
Leveraging a Modern Bot Detection Solution for Protection
Stopping modern bots requires a solution that understands the adversarial mindset. Botters are motivated by the financial reward of a successful bot attack. Whether it is the profit they can make from reselling an in demand item, or selling a customer’s PII after taking over their account, they are simply looking for the best way to increase their ROI.
Working with a partner that understands this motivation and targets the attackers rather than just the bots is the key to stay ahead of evolving automated threats. Kasada undermines the ROI of automated attacks by making reverse engineering attempts incredibly difficult, time consuming, and expensive through the use of highly obfuscated defenses. If an attacker does reverse engineer the solution, Kasada’s dynamic sensors look for different signs of automation during each request, making retooling efforts useless and forcing the attacker to start again from scratch. This repeated process eventually forces the attacker to stop as the costs begin to out way the reward.
Defending Against Botnet Attacks
Botnets are considered to be a serious issue in terms of cyber security. It is a danger for businesses, people and even governments alike. To defend against botnet attacks, it is crucial to understand the nature of botnets and implement effective prevention strategies.
Understanding Botnets
A botnet is a network of compromised devices, also known as bots or zombies, which are controlled by a central command and control (C&C) server without the knowledge or consent of their owners. Botnets are often employed by cybercriminals to conduct malicious activities such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, spamming, data theft, and spreading malware.
Grasping the structure and functioning of botnets is key to formulating strategies for defending against botnet attacks and safeguarding your digital assets.
Preventing Botnet Infections
Preventing botnet infections involves keeping software and systems up to date, implementing strong and unique passwords, and employing anti-malware software. By taking these proactive bot mitigation measures, organizations can prevent bot attacks, protect their devices and systems against botnet malware, and other digital threats.
In addition, educating users and personnel about the risks associated with botnets and the importance of maintaining secure systems can further reduce the likelihood of botnet infections.
Best Practices for Protecting Your Web Applications and APIs Against Bot Attacks
To fortify the security of your web applications and APIs against bot attacks, it is suggested to:
- Create a baseline
- Identify existing APIs
- Adopt proactive measures
- Leverage existing technology
- Partner with a bot detection company
By following these best practices, you can effectively safeguard your digital assets from the ever-evolving threat of bot attacks.
Partnering with a Bot Detection Company
Collaborating with a bot detection company can offer immediate detection and obstruction of bot activity, as well as comprehensive reporting and analysis.
Integrating the technology or services of a bot detection company into your systems can bolster your defenses against malicious bots and secure your online assets, leveraging their specialized knowledge and resources.
Kasada for Bot Detection
Kasada is a comprehensive bot detection solution that provides protection against a range of bot attacks for web applications and APIs. With Kasada you not only get best in class detection and defenses that remain resilient in the face of retooling, you also get a partner. Kasada’s hands free solution takes on the ownership of stopping bots without charging additional PS fees or leveraging friction causing methods like CAPTCHAS. Our customers also benefit from our 24/7 embedded support staff that works as an extension of your own team, and is only one message away in case an attack occurs.
By following best practices such as establishing a baseline, taking action against bot attacks, leveraging technology for protection, and partnering with a bot detection company like Kasada, you can ensure that your digital assets remain secure and accessible in the face of the ever-evolving threat of bot attacks. Stay vigilant, stay informed, and stay protected. Contact Kasada today to learn how leveraging Kasada’s bot detection solution and partnering with them in a bot detection strategy can help protect you and your organization from bot attacks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an example of a bot attack?
Bot attacks are the deployment of automation to conduct an attack that would be too cumbersome for an individual to carry out. An example would be credential stuffing, where an attacker uses automation to test a list of stolen usernames and passwords to see which combinations have been reused for other sites.
Why do bot attacks happen?
Bot attacks occur because they provide adversaries with an easy to use, cost effective, and highly sophisticated tool to launch attacks at scale.
Are bot attacks illegal?
Because bad bots have such a wide range of applications, it depends on the type of attack they are being used to conduct. Some attacks like credential stuffing and carding are illegal, others like automated check out of in-demand products are legal.
How do you detect a bot attack?
Bot attacks can be detected by implementing a bot detection software solution like Kasada’s to ensure you detect bots before they ever become a problem. Kasada can help analyze your traffic and provide tips to help determine if bots are present in your online traffic.
What is the dual nature of bots?
Bots are simply a tool, designed to conduct tasks quickly and at scale. Because of this bots possess the ability to both benefit and harm, as they can be programmed for tasks that are productive and advantageous, while also being used maliciously for cyber attacks, misinformation, and fraud.
Even though malicious activities of bots can be very damaging to businesses and individuals alike, the potential that bots have is far greater than just malicious acts.
