Seven myths and misconceptions about robot attacks

Although bot attacks are more common than ever, there are some unsubstantiated myths surrounding them.

By understanding these myths, you will be better able to protect your website from potential damage and keep your customers happy. Here are seven of the most common robot myths and their truths.

1. Firewalls will stop sophisticated bot attacks

73% of enterprises believe legacy WAFs will protect them from bot attacks.

WAF is one of the first lines of defense for protecting web applications. It covers the most critical risks, including but not limited to the OWASP Top 10. WAF can be used to block malicious bots by creating WAF rules. Its basic mitigations include applying rate limiting to manage suspected IP block bot attacks.

However, it didn’t take long. Hackers figured out a way to bypass WAF defenses.

In addition, many bots attack websites by targeting "business logic".

For example, a bot can find an item and put it in a shopping cart while reselling it on another website. Once another transaction closes, the sale is complete. It doesn't exploit any flaws in the code.

To prevent bot attacks, you need a bot management solution that evolves with the threats.

2. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Protection Will Protect Businesses from Bot Attacks

77% of businesses think this is possible – however, this is a wrong assumption. Of course, automation is what all automated attacks have in common.

Let’s see where the confusion begins: DDoS attacks involve botnets (collections of connected devices consisting of servers). This can overwhelm a website and eventually take it offline.

Bot attacks on websites have different ultimate goals. They use the workplace to carry out malicious activities. This way it doesn't completely shut down the victim system. Most DDoS protection solutions rely on rate limiting policies.

Most robots escape protection by performing low and slow attacks.

3. Attack bots mainly come from Russia

Shockingly, 62% of companies believe that risks related to bot attacks originate from Russia. This is not true. While many attacks originate from these regions, bot attacks on websites come from all over the world.

More than 51% of threats come from the United States. The bot attacks that enterprises need to be wary of are all local attacks aimed at profit. In the long run, simply preventing traffic based on country is not enough. Bot attacks can also impersonate legitimate users from other countries, rendering restrictions meaningless.

4. Captcha alone is enough to protect bots

Captcha just adds a manual step to differentiate between bots and humans. Today’s bots are more sophisticated and can easily bypass traditional CAPTCHAs. CAPTCHAs present accessibility issues and add friction to the customer journey.

You need a powerful bot management solution to accurately protect your site. At the same time, it must allow your users to do their business without having to solve CAPTCHAs.

5. Robots can only be purchased on the dark web

62% of companies believe that robots can only be purchased on the dark web and other places. Today, however, we find bots and username and password databases available to everyone on public networks.

Finding bots for sale is easy, especially if you want to get your hands on hard-to-find or limited-edition items like jewelry or sneakers that are publicly available to consumers. Another way people launch bot attacks is by hiring professional hackers to launch bot attacks. This means more people will be able to compromise websites, take over accounts, exploit scalper bots and disrupt businesses.

6. Most bot operators are criminals

Bot developers are not necessarily spammers. Some attackers are motivated by financial gain and revenge. It could be a regular person trying to access a highly coveted online product.

It is not a crime to use bots when purchasing items for resale. However, in the US and UK, proposed legislation is in motion to ban it but has not yet been approved.

7. Bot attacks are most frequent during the holiday shopping season

The holiday shopping season is a critical period for the e-commerce industry. As such, bot attacks are always on the rise during this season to undermine retailers’ bottom lines.

However, it’s also important to understand that bot attacks can impact your business at any time of the year. It could be driven by new product launches.

How to prevent robots from attacking the website?

Let’s look at some proactive steps you can implement to prevent bot attacks:

• Assess and monitor incoming traffic and its sources: Does your website have a high bounce rate? Have you noticed a lot of traffic coming from a single source? Identifying and classifying bot traffic through sophisticated tools and human expertise is necessary to spot signs of bad bot traffic.
• Block or catch obsolete user-agents/browsers: The default configuration of many tools and scripts provides a list of mostly obsolete user-agent strings. Although the risk of modern browsers forcing automatic updates, analysis, and blocking of CAPTCHA browser versions is low, it is important to note.
• Monitor failed login attempts: One way to do this is to set a baseline of failed login attempts. This baseline can then be monitored for any anomalies or spikes. You can set alerts to notify you immediately when they occur.
• Protect all bot access points: Blocking access from these sites may prevent attackers from attacking your website, API, and mobile apps.

Conclusion

It is important for businesses to understand the latest threats posed by robots. Debunking these myths can help provide a clear understanding of the risks associated with malicious bot behavior. This will help you and your team create the best roadmap to help your organization gain real-time visibility to stay bot-free.

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