Is bad bots a significant problem today? Well, in a day and age where cybersecurity is a real issue, there is a dire need for increased and efficient online protection. According to Southern New Hampshire University, the online space is more important today than it was years ago, and that’s why data protection cannot be underestimated. The growth and sophistication of technology paves way for more sophisticated ways of data breaching. People who are out to destroy your online credibility and gain illegal access to your online space will do anything to make sure that you’re exposed. Quite frankly, attackers use bots to increase your level of vulnerability so as to make their attacks easier. Thankfully, there are steps you can take for bots attack prevention:
1) Find an Effective Bot Mitigation Solution
From the onset, you should invest in a feasible bot detection and mitigation plan. Cybersecurity experts will tell you that this is the most imperative step to take towards preventing and stopping bots from attacking your site. Since the level of sophistication in online attacks has increased significantly, it is only best if you find a mitigation solution that will handle today’s level of intricacy. While investing in the best solution may depend on the level of your website’s infrastructure, your operational industry, and your level of risk, there are factors you should pay attention to:
- The quality of detection: Essentially, the main purpose of a bot prevention solution is to detect attacks and act on them sufficiently. Thus, a good mitigation solution should be one with the capacity to detect bots with superior quality. As you look for a bot prevention tool, make sure that you work with experts to get the one with a high detection quality. Not all solutions out there are effective.
- Protection time: For this factor, you should be looking for a solution that will prevent attacks in the quickest way possible. You don’t want to work with a solution that will take a lot of time to stop attacks. If you know the importance of your data, you’ll have to work with a bots prevention solution with a quick activation process.
- Quality design: For the purposes of this topic, a quality design is one that’s not intrusive. A good design will not require you to make a lot of changes to your site. For example, you’ll not have to make changes to various applications on your site. Therefore, if you want an effective mitigation solution, you should go for one with a non-intrusive design.
Fundamentally, the best solution should be able to stop bot attacks on your website with much efficiency. In other words, it should have the capacity for bot management without you having to worry too much.
2) Constant Monitoring Of Traffic
Monitoring the traffic on your site goes a long way to prevent bot attacks. When you’re monitoring your site’s traffic, there are things that you should note. Here are some of those factors:
- Suspicious sources: Ideally, direct traffic is the source of bot traffic. So, if you notice requests that are repeated from one IP address, it is a sign that you’re vulnerable.
- Traffic spikes: For this one, check if you notice traffic spikes within a short period of time. For example, if you see a spike within a week, this could be as a result of bot activities. However, not all spikes are a sign of bot activities. There are exceptions. For instance, if you have a new product launched on your site, it is highly likely that there will be a spike. Therefore, if there’s no reason for a traffic spike, you should see it as a sign.
- General site performance: Another area to check when monitoring your site is its overall performance. Essentially, if your site is exhibiting a significant slowdown, you shouldn’t assume that it is normal. It could be that servers are overwhelmed by unusual bot traffic.
3) Check Cases of Public Data Infringements
Since data breaches are increasing in today’s online environment, take note of the public breaches that you hear of. Normally, credentials that are recently stolen are more likely to be active. For this reason, make sure you check for any frequency affecting your site after a large data infringement. The occurrence of large data breaches means that your site could be a target. Bad bots could be used to run the stolen credentials on your site. This could come with increased frequency. Thus, be on the lookout to prevent a bad bot invasion against your site.
4) Block Suspicious Services
Hosting and proxy services are ways through which attackers use to get to your data. The reality about online security, according to the International Federation of Accountants, is that you’re not only vulnerable to sophisticated attackers, but also less complicated ones. This implies that you should be careful not to fall victim to suspicious hosting and proxy platforms. The best and prudent thing to do is to block any suspicious sources so as to discourage attackers from gaining access to your data.
5) Block Outdated Browsers
Though blocking outdated browsers may not stop sophisticated attackers, it will surely limit a good number of them. For you to reduce the risk of bot attacks on your site, make sure that you deal with the issue of outdated user agents effectively.
6) Prevent Bad Bot Entry
Did you know that protecting your site may not be as effective if you don’t block the backdoors that may be giving bad bots entry? In this regard, make sure that you block any exposed APIs as well as mobile apps. This will go a long way to ensure that you don’t give backdoor access to the bad bot.
The best step to take is to put these recommendations into consideration. Preventing bad bot attacks won’t be easy if you’re left exposed. You have to put effective and proven strategies into consideration for you to succeed in offering protection to your site. Remember, protecting your site is your responsibility. Take action today.
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