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How to automated attacks harm the security of accounts

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How to automated attacks harm the security of accounts

 Almost 25% of web traffic is made up of harmful bots. Even though that number may seem absurd, it is real. These automated scripts, which range in sophistication from relatively basic algorithms to sophisticated AI agents capable of convincingly passing for humans online, are a growing element of the online world. Because of this, an increasing number of businesses seek the assistance of security measures such a Web Application Firewall (WAF).

Bad bots do a variety of tasks, including price and content scraping. They gather private information from websites and online resources, package it, and offer it for sale to businesses looking to buy it as a tool for competition. Our top priority should be website security.

Credential stuffing assaults are another sizable market for rogue bots. Cyberattacks including “credential stuffing” attempt to connect into other services where the legitimate account holder of those keys may have one by using credentials obtained from a data breach. While many users will follow best practises and utilise unique login information, including usernames and passwords, for each site they use, this is not always the case. For the sake of convenience, some users will repeatedly utilise the same login information.

What are you going to do about those terrible bots?

According to many estimates, 0.1% of credential stuffing assaults succeed. This implies that for every 1000 accounts that are attempted, there will probably be at least one successful hack. But even though it would be incredibly unlikely if hackers had to manually enter the credentials each time, sophisticated bot tools allow credential stuffing hacks to be carried out automatically. It only requires allowing bots to quickly cycle through various combinations.

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Credential stuffing assaults that are led by bots can be very massive and protracted. For instance, having an attack that lasts for several days and involves tens of millions of login attempts is easily within the bounds of feasibility (and even commonplace). Who wants a bot to have access to their banking information? These attacks can hurt both businesses and individual customers. These businesses will have to cope with the criminal side of fake requests as well as the possibility of having enormous credential stuffing attacks slow down or even stop their services completely.

The aim of large-scale credential stuffing attacks may be different from that of a volumetric DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack, but they nonetheless send a huge volume of requests to websites and online services. In their servers might not always be able to handle it.

The problem is spreading more and more.

Such bot attacks are now increasingly frequent due to a number of causes. The first is the rise in significant data breaches. For instance, a significant hack of the Marriott International hotel chain earlier in 2020 led to the theft of 5.2 million records. This hack is by no means the biggest of its kind. Hackers stole 153 million user records worth of data in October 2013, including customer names, user IDs, passwords, and debit and credit card information. This information regularly ends up in the hands of other criminals who could use it to plan cyberattacks like credential stuffing.

According to a report from 2020, the hacker collective ShinyHunters advertised 91 million user records that were purportedly obtained from 10 compromised companies for sale for $5,000. That amounts to a mere fraction of a cents per user. According to reports, internet hacker sites are currently selling 15 billion user passwords. The amount of data that can be stolen is growing as more and more of our lives and activities are conducted online, along with the potential harm that such attacks could do.

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It’s more difficult than ever to recognise bot behaviour, making it difficult to keep out rogue actors. This presents a significant difficulty from the perspective of identification. The more advanced bots can mimic mouse movements and clicks, which are used by systems to identify artificial bots. But even straightforward bots might be challenging to identify at first. It can be challenging to tell the difference between a genuine login attempt and a credential stuffing attack by an attacker. Because of this, businesses are forced to choose between doing nothing, which increases fraud, or recognising too many false positives, which results in locking out honest consumers while creating a mountain of customer care tickets for staff members to handle.

The significance of appropriate safety

In a nutshell, bots waste resources and risk user accounts. These attacks must be avoided by businesses as they can be very expensive and undermine client loyalty. Businesses should take precautions by keeping an eye on the origins of their traffic for problems like high bounce rates and lower-than-expected traffic conversion rates caused by certain inexplicable spikes. The best solution, though, is to work with professionals that have experience identifying bots. A game-changer can be a tool like a good Web Application Firewall, or WAF.

The most difficult aspect of bot attacks is how persistent they can be. True to form, businesses deal with it on a daily basis. Choose a team of professionals who are equally committed to working around the clock because assist shield you from the issue. In a nutshell, bots waste resources and jeopardise user accounts. These attacks must be avoided by businesses as they can be very expensive and undermine client loyalty. Businesses should take precautions by keeping an eye on the origins of their traffic for problems like high bounce rates and lower-than-expected traffic conversion rates caused by certain inexplicable spikes. The best solution, though, is to work with professionals that have experience identifying bots. A game-changer can be a tool like a good Web Application Firewall, or WAF.

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The most difficult aspect of bot attacks is how persistent they can be. True to form, businesses deal with it on a daily basis. Because of this, you must choose a 24/7a committed group of specialists to assist in defending you against the issue.

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