Advanced Bot Protection and Mitigation
A bot is a computer that has been infected with malware and can be remotely controlled by a cybercriminal. Cybercriminals use the bot, also known as a zombie computer, to launch additional attacks or to bring it to a group of controlled computers called a botnet. Bots are pieces of code that perform automated tasks and account for almost half of all traffic to the internet. Good bots, such as those that index web content for search engines allow people to locate websites much more easily. Websites are hacked by bad bots. These bots can expose data, steal intellectual properties, shut down entire websites, and exploit vulnerabilities. Website security is a crucial part of modern web security.
Bot Management is a feature of software security that determines if a traffic request is coming from a machine or a person and blocks or controls suspicious requests. To fight malicious bot attacks, websites and applications require the resilience and intelligence of a scalable network. Bot Protection will strengthen your website’s defenses.
Common Malicious Bot Attack Types
Below are some most common bad bot attacks which can damage your website and/or your business.
Denial of service
Another common use for a bot is this. Denial-of-service attacks are designed to infiltrate a network or disrupt Internet service providers. To create a larger botnet, the attacker will try to infect as many computers as possible.
Account Takeover
This method uses bots to brute for or steal credential databases to gain customer accounts. These attacks are responsible for fraudulent transactions, money transfers, and identity theft.
Checkout Frau
Sneakerbot is a well-known checkout fraud bot. It aims to buy limited quantities of online products. It lowers the average purchase amount, decreases repeat customers, and damages supplier relationships.
Spambot
This machine automatically sends spam emails. These e-mails contain either computer viruses or ads for unknown products. A botherder is usually the one who sells a botnet to a spammer. This allows the spammer to send spam emails from hiding the origin of the attacks.
Content scraping
The purpose of content scraping bots is to steal information, mainly for creating phishing websites, copyright material, intellectual property theft, and for competitors to offer lower prices. This can lead to major financial losses, regardless of whether the malicious actor is a competitor or not.
Spyware
Spyware is malware that attempts to steal information from its target. This information could include passwords and credit card information, as well as physical data within files. These details can be used by a botherder to trade the data on the black market. A bot herder can make more money if they have control of a corporate network. They will be able to sell their “rights to intellectual property” and their bank accounts.
Dial-up bots
These bots attempt to connect to dial-up modems, then force users to dial phone numbers. Sometimes, these bots can tie up the line and force the user to change their numbers. Sometimes, the effect can be to dial into premium numbers to add charges to another’s bill. This attack is becoming less common as more people switch from dial-up modems and broadband connections.
Click fraud
This type of attack allows a botherder to click on links on websites and online advertisements to increase numbers and make more money.
How to Prevent Malicious Bots From Websites
Blacklisting IP Addresses
Blacklisting IP addresses or entire IP ranges is the best way to stop bad bots from attacking your website. This method can be time-consuming and labor-intensive. Automated bots can cycle through thousands of IP addresses simultaneously.
Create challenges when you receive a threatening email
When you get a potentially dangerous request, set up challenges. Below are some advanced threat response levels:
Monitor
You can monitor the activity of a bot as it moves through your website. To strengthen your defenses against bad bots, you should be able to understand their behavior and take advantage of it. This knowledge can be applied to other bots that visit your website.
CAPTCHA
CAPTCHA tests can quickly and easily eliminate simple bots unable to read or provide a correct answer. Human users can access the test after they have completed it.
Block Pages
A block page provides an additional layer of protection to a basic CAPTCHA test. By requesting that visitors not be allowed to access your site, you can prevent them from doing so by asking your support or security team. After the request has been reviewed and approved, the team will allow the visitor to access your website. If the request is not complete or malicious, the team will immediately remove it.
Drop access
The most severe threat response is to block access. This option doesn’t offer any other options, such as an unblock request form and a CAPTCHA test. To target another website, the visitor will need to move on.
Each of these options should be automated to get the best results. This will ensure that bad bots can be stopped as quickly as possible while good users are only temporarily hampered while they visit your website. As part of your quest to understand how to stop bots from a website, you have the option to create, manage, or maintain your bot defense program. There are automated solutions that can help with Bot Protection. Comodo offers a solution through its web security tool, cWatch. This managed security service includes a Web Application Firewall and is provisioned over a Secure content delivery network (CDN). The company also has a Cyber Security Operation Center, which is staffed with security experts who work throughout the year. Comodo’s Security Information and Event Management can leverage data from over 85 million endpoints to help detect and mitigate potential threats before they happen. cWatch can detect and remove malware as well as prevent further attacks. cWatch provides Online merchants, businesses, and other service providers who handle credit cards online with an automated and simple way to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.
Comodo WAF can eliminate application vulnerabilities and protect web applications and websites from advanced attacks such as SQL Injection, Cross-Site Scripting, and Denial-of-Service. This WAF offers robust web security that executes Bot Protection measures to protect your business and reputation.
The Comodo Comodo cWatch effectively blocks malicious bots as well as brute force attacks from web pages. It protects account registration forms as well as login pages against various attack vectors, including application denial of services, web scraping, and reconnaissance attacks.