The Bot traffic has become a buzzword in the tech sector since the introduction of AI-based chatbots. It not only has a bad meaning in computer systems, but it also has a benign connotation, depending on the bot’s function. There are several techniques to swiftly and effectively identifying bot traffic as well as stopping bot traffic.
On the one hand, bots can benefit corporations like Siri or Alexa, but on the other side, harmful bots can carry out new types of cyberattacks including credential stuffing, illegal site crawlers, DDoS attacks, and more. As a result, enterprises must hunt for dangerous bots to effectively manage bot traffic.
Good bots like search engine bots, partner bots, and vendor bots; commercial bots like aggregator bots, price comparison bots, and copyright bots; and finally bad bots like web scraping bots, credential stuffing bots, spam bots, ad fraud bots, Denial of Service (DoS) bots, and card fraud bots.
Essential steps in identifying bot traffic
- A sudden spike in pageviews: Malicious bots can create bot traffic through a sudden spike in pageviews where it can be seen that bots are clicking through a website all the time
- A sudden spike in bounce rate: It is one of the essential ways of identifying bot traffic where the bots are being directed at only one page leading to a higher bounce rate suddenly
- Increase in junk: One can identify bot traffic through an increase in junk conversion like fake accounts, fake names in contact forms, fake numbers, and many more are done by spambots or malicious bots
- Increase in traffic: Identifying bit traffic is easy when one can observe a sudden increase in traffic in a period of one day or one week instead of a gradual increase in web traffic through SEO, paid search, and many more activities
- Slow server performance: Bot traffic can get stressed out due to a sudden spike in multiple malicious bots hitting at the same period of time that in turn can slow down the server performance
- Mysterious locations: One way in identifying malicious bot traffic is to seek mysterious locations that are out of the target locations of a business
Essential steps in preventing bot traffic
- Block outdated browsers: Malicious bots can be prevented if an organization can block outdated browsers and install modern browsers to catch and prevent bot traffic efficiently
- Disallow proxy services: Cybercriminals will be discouraged from entering mobile apps, APIs, and many more by disallowing easy access to proxy services
- Accurate evaluation of traffic: Bot traffic can occur gradually over a long period of time but to prevent sudden high bounce rates, slow server performance, etc. it is essential to accurately evaluate bot traffic and its sources
- Proper monitoring: Monitoring is required on a daily basis to prevent failed log-in attempts, an increase in failed validations, and many more
- Implementation of WAF: A Web Application Firewall (WAF) can be implemented to prevent bot traffic in between a web application and a client where the traffic and resources move towards the WAF before entering the client’s account
- IP-based protection: IP-based protection should be installed in preventing bot traffic to block suspicious IP addresses from malicious bots
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