Automated Fraud
Automated fraud: How it works and how to prevent itOnline fraud is a widespread problem. Automated fraud attacks like phishing, card cracking, and account takeover are now pervasive, with businesses and individuals alike being sub...
Automated fraud: How it works and how to prevent itOnline fraud is a widespread problem. Automated fraud attacks like phishing, card cracking, and account takeover are now pervasive, with businesses and individuals alike being sub...
An automated traffic bot is a program that generates traffic for websites by performing automated activities such as creating affiliate links and exposure in search engines. It is called “automated” and “robot” because it interact...
Anti-bot verification helps prevent automated spam posts, which are posts created by scripts or programs instead of people.
Ad fraud techniques aim to fool advertisers into thinking that an ad unit has been viewed or interacted with when it hasn't been seen or clicked on at all.
Automated traffic can be defined as "traffic generated by non-human means". This can be in the form of an automated script, software or algorithm.
Account scraping is when someone uses software or APIs to collect user data from your website. This is illegal in many cases, but it is difficult to prove.
Ad injection is a technique that websites use to generate money from online ads. This makes it more difficult for you to browse without being constantly bombarded.
An All In One (AIO) bot is a type of sneaker bot that is used for buying sneakers from more than one website at a time. This type of bot does all things...
API security refers to methods that prevent malicious attacks on application program interfaces (API). The purpose of APIs is to connect...
Account aggregation is the compilation of multiple accounts into an intermediary system. Account aggregation can be carried out by one user merging information from several applications, or to combine the data of many users of a s...
An Application DDoS attack is designed to carry out a large amount of activity so that the server under attack is unable to provide the service that it is in place to provide. While this is partly done by the quantity of traffic, ...
A backdoor attack is a type of hack that takes advantage of vulnerabilities in computer security systems. These vulnerabilities can be intentional or unintentional, and can be caused by poor design, coding errors, or malware.
Bot impressions are bots that flood websites with views, which often generate revenue. These bots are not just there to overrun the website, they also steal revenue from advertisers and publishers while doing so.
A bot account, also known as a fake account, is an account that has been automatically generated in order to deliver a message or publish information automatically. It can be used for marketing or political purposes.These accounts...
A bot config is a set of instructions that allow bot operators to perform a specific set of requests towards a targeted web app or website.
Bot traffic is any set of legitimate requests made to a website that is made by an automated process rather than triggered by direct human action.The Difference Between Human Traffic And Bot TrafficThe key difference between human...
Increasing your web traffic puts your products and services in front of a wider audience. However, as your website or app traffic grows, so will the presence of bot traffic. If you’ve ever wondered how to detect a botnet, it’s imp...
What is a brute force attack?Brute force attacks utilise automated techniques such as credential stuffing and card cracking, continually testing large quantities of information on a website to gain user account entry.For instance,...
Bots aren’t exclusively all bad or all good. This is why a reputation-based block approach isn’t always effective. Discover more about bot traffic.
What is card cracking and how can you protect your customers?Brute force attacks are increasingly used to gain access to online accounts. Hackers and cybercriminals use bots to perform automated attacks on websites, mobile apps, A...
A credential stuffing attack is a type of cyber-attack where hackers use stolen or leaked username and password pairs in an attempt to gain access to user accounts.
One of the most popular methods used by cybercriminals for monetizing their malware is cash out. Cybercriminals have been using this technique since 2012 to get money from stolen payment cards.
Credential cracking, also known as password cracking, is the process of attempting to gain access to an online account by using credentials that have been compromised or stolen from other accounts. This often entails obtaining use...
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) is a type of injection, in which malicious scripts are injected into otherwise benign and trusted websites. XSS attacks occur when an attacker uses a web application to send malicious code, generally in ...
Crypto mining bots are malicious programs that have been created for the sole purpose of extracting cryptocurrencies. Any computer can be infected...
A CAPTCHA bot is an automated program that attempts to bypass human verification tests used to determine whether the website visitor is an actual person. They are commonly placed on websites and internet forums to prevent abuse or...
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a large distributed system of servers that deliver web pages, images and other online content to a user based on their geographical location in a secure way.Frequently asked questions about CDN ...
An account checker bot is an attack tool that takes lists of leaked username and password pairs and tests them against a website.
A DNS sinkhole is a method of redirecting traffic from one DNS server to another. It can be used for security purposes, such as malware detection, or for research purposes.
Device fingerprinting is a process used to identify a device or browser by determining which technology, such as the Operating System (OS) and browser plugins along with other active settings, are present. Unlike website cookies t...
A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is a low-level volumetric attack, designed to overwhelm the server by the number of requests being made and make it unavailable to its users.There are many different types of DDoS atta...
Email scraping is a method of obtaining email information by automatically extracting the necessary data from another source.
The term "formjacking" describes the fraudulent use of a company's existing online forms to gain access to personal information, credit card numbers or even hacking a website.
A firmware attack is any malicious code that enters your device by using a backdoor in the processor's software. Backdoors are paths in the code...
Bots are not inherently good or bad, but they can be used with good or bad intent. Working with bot management specialists and data scientists who can reveal patterns of traffic behaviour on your website will ensure you have a goo...
Impossible CAPTCHAs introduce a level of randomness into the generation process, making it impossible for a computer program to solve them.
IP spoofing is when a hacker changes an original IP address for the purpose of hiding the true source IP address. It can be used to attack:Individual usersServersApplicationsHow does IP spoofing work?It’s a type of cyber-attack us...
Invalid Traffic (IVT) is bot activity on a website.Usually, invalid traffic consists of impressions and clicks generated by publishers themselves on ads placed on their sites. Automated tools are used to create false ad impression...
To make a list of web crawlers, you need to know the 3 main types of web crawlers. In-house web crawlers are developed in-house by a company...
Look-to-book (L2B) ratio is a metric that enables online hotel suppliers to measure the effectiveness of their marketing strategy. It's used by travel agencies...
The most prevalent botnets of recent yearsBotnets are a major issue for the good guys, as botnet operators can profit from renting botnet time in much the same way that legitimate cloud service providers do. This results in botnet...
Malicious file uploading is a type of attack that involves placing files onto a server or computer in such a way that they contain some form of backdoor code that will allow the attacker to gain access afterward. These types of at...
A Network Intrusion Detection System (NIDS) is a computer software application that can detect and report network security problems by monitoring network or...
Non-human traffic is the generation of online page views and clicks by automated bots, rather than human activity. This automated traffic...
A one-time password (OTP) is a password that can only be used once. It is different from your regular password because it will not work if re-used, even if you input it correctly on the login page. This means that if someone were ...
Penetration testing is a valuable form of vulnerability analysis that finds and identifies security problems on a site by simulating an attack from the same sorts of cybercriminals who might try to break into a business online.How...
Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is information that can be used to uniquely identify, contact, or locate a single person. The following are examples of PII...
A password cracking attack is the process of obtaining the correct password to an account in an unauthorised way. Discover more about password-cracking methods.
A reverse proxy is a proxy server that retrieves resources on behalf of a client from one or more servers. Browsers, corporate firewalls, and Network Address Translation (NAT) devices typically implement a limited form of reverse ...
Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP) is a new application security technology that adds an additional layer of cyber defense.
The primary purpose of a Security Operations Center (SOC) is to provide oversight and incident response services in the area of information technology (IT). SOCs were developed to address cybersecurity issues and to counter the ev...
A sneaker bot is a software application that automatically buys items on a retail website. The bots are capable of buying many items at the same time.
Sniper bots (or “snipe bots”) are automated bots that monitor time-based activity and submit information at the very last moment, removing the opportunity for other people to respond to that action. The most common example of snip...
Scalper bots (scalping bots) use automated methods to purchase limited goods, such as event tickets. They complete the checkout process in a fraction of the time it would take any legitimate user. In other words, scalpers use auto...
Token cracking is a term used in cybersecurity to describe the cracking of authentication or identification tokens, which are cryptographic keys that are generated by online services. Tokens are often sent to users via text messag...
Two-factor authentication (2FA) is an extra layer of security to help protect your accounts from hackers and cybercriminals. It requires you to authenticate yourself using two different factors: something you know, such as a passw...
Ticket scalping is the act of buying tickets in an automated manner, using bots (scalper bots) to later resell them for an increased price. Ticket scalping is often considered an unfair practice by many people because this automat...
There are several different types or classes of botnets that you should be aware of. Each type has its own characteristics and functionality.
Vulnerability scanning is a method of identifying vulnerabilities, or weaknesses, in the configuration of information technology systems.
A whaling attack is a cyber-attack that targets high-profile corporate executives, wealthy businessmen, or individuals in the public sector. This type of attack can also target prominent members of organizations that are responsib...
A watering hole attack is a targeted attack where an individual or group gains access to a particular site and infects the computers of visitors with malware. The attackers exploit vulnerabilities in commonly used applications suc...
Web scraping (or web harvesting or screen scraping) is the process of automatically extracting data from an online service website. This data can be stored in a structured format for further use.
Web crawlers are often used to gather information from the internet. For example, a search engine may index content found on websites and...