Attackers use bots on websites for a variety of purposes, from logging into your customers’ accounts to scraping data or impersonating them online. While some of these attacks are legitimate, such as automated uptime monitors or podcast feed fetchers, others are malicious, such as account takeovers or denial-of-service attacks. It’s therefore crucial to detect and block bad bots, while allowing your authentic users to access the website and applications they need.
How does a website detect a bot?
A robust web bot detection solution should utilize several different methods to distinguish human traffic from automated activity. Some of these include CAPTCHA-style challenges, honeypots (secret forms that can only be accessed by bots), IP tracking, and browser fingerprinting (collecting non-identifiable information about a device’s software, hardware, and tools to flag suspicious behavior). Other techniques may also include biometric data validation, such as mouse movements or mobile swipes; behavioral profiling; and risk scoring, which allows security teams to customize rules and fine tune the system to their business environment.
Detecting bots can be difficult, as they’re designed to mimic human behavior and evade detection. However, unusual metrics such as an increase in visitors or a low average time on page can be signs of bot activity. Another common metric is an increased number of visits from a single user or group of users. These patterns can be a sign that attackers are using bots to amplify the reach of an attack or spam your site’s analytics reporting.
…