How To Mitigate The Rising Influx Of Bot Attacks?
Observing the past two years alone, the alarming sophistication of the cyber threat landscape is old news.
While the mainstream threats of ransomware and phishing attacks remain a constant hurdle, bot attacks are another problem everyone needs to focus upon.
Bots are essentially a vital part of websites, automating and performing several functions over the internet.
From gathering information to structuring our web pages, bots play a crucial role in our online presence, and threat actors have taken it upon themselves to exploit these bots.
It is unfortunate and somewhat explanatory how digitization is the reason for this significant spike in bot attacks.
As businesses continue to shift their work online, threat actors have come across more opportunities to launch bot attacks. Within 2021 alone, the volume of bot attacks has risen to 41%
And although the rise in such attacks may seem to be the bigger problem, the main issue that we need to conquer is the lack of awareness and understanding of these bot attacks and the possible ways to mitigate them.
Bots, which automate various functions on the internet, have been exploited by threat actors to carry out malicious tasks.
The article explains what bot attacks are, how they happen, and some common types of attacks, such as brute force attacks, distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, and device bricking.
To mitigate bot attacks, I recommend analyzing and monitoring web traffic, implementing a strong password hygiene policy, protecting all bad bot access points, maintaining a zero-trust policy, and regularly evaluating bot mitigation techniques.
Awareness and understanding of bot attacks are essential in order to combat this growing threat effectively.
What Are Bot Attacks and How Do They Happen?
In layman’s terms, a bot attack refers to an instance where threat actors hack or manipulate web bots to carry out malicious tasks.
These bot attacks feature automated web requests to abuse, defraud, or disrupt websites, end-users, or APIs. In contrast to the “good” boat already working on the internet, these bot attacks happen through a collective interlinked network of compromised divides called botnets.
These bot attacks occur through malware. The threat actor infiltrates the target device with the help of malware.
Now known as the “bot herder” device, the malware-infected device becomes the headquarters for a hacker to carry out large-scale attacks using communication protocols such as HTTP.
Some common types of devices that the bot herder targets for malware infections are:
- IoT devices such as smartwatches, speakers, TVs, etc
- Wifi Routers
- Web servers
- Network bridges.
Now malware-ridden, these devices are known as zombie computers. They become the modus Operandi to carry out large-scale attacks.
The hacker controls them harder by sending our instructions via remote programming using the Command-and-Control (C&C) server.
These C&C servers are particularly crucial to a botnet and can function in one of the following two orders:
- Client-server: a centralized command model that uses IRC websites, domains, or networks to send commands. It is a somewhat dated model that operates using a single bot herder, which leaves the network vulnerable to discovery. This C&C server is rarely ever used now by threat actors.
- Peer-to-Peer: it is a decentralized command model that doesn’t leave itself vulnerable to discovery. The model works by imprinting zombie computers with instructions that help mask the bot herder’s identity. Since the P2P approach helps evade cybersecurity measures, it is a popular attack vector nowadays.
Some Common Types of Bot Attacks
Bot Attacks occur in various ways, and understanding these attack methods is one way to mitigate them better. Some of the most common types of bot attacks are as follows:
Brute Force Attacks
These attacks happen against weak password security and are used to access accounts and networks. The attack methods rely on using rapid, repetitive password guessing techniques.
The malware communicates with the affected servers to get real-time feedback on password attempts to guess the correct password using leaked credentials or personally identifiable information.
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks
A DDoS is one of the most common types of bot attacks you could come across. The attack method features flooding the web traffic for it to crash down, causing performance degradation. A DDoS attack can prove financially and reputationally damaging to a website.
Device Bricking
A device bricking attack involves a threat actor launching bots for a device bricking attack over multiple surfaces.
With bricking attacks, the target devices get a malware infection that deletes the device’s content and even removes the evidence of the primary attack.
A bricking attack renders the device useless.
How to Mitigate Bot Attacks?
A bot attack happens by taking advantage of vulnerabilities within your system to steal critical information, install malware, distort web analytics, or even damage SEO.
Since these bot attacks are capable of causing extensive scale damage, cybersecurity experts have come up with several solutions to mitigate them. Some of the solutions that you can adopt are as follows:
Analyze and monitor your web traffic
Getting more traffic on your website might seem like an ultimate dream; however, not every time that high web traffic can mean something good is up with your business.
It is, therefore, crucial to analyze and monitor our web traffic and look for a few telltale signs of a bad bot issue, such as:
- Average session duration: it should be more than a mere few seconds
- Geo-location: it shouldn’t be non-discernible or from all over the world
- Traffic source: it is suspicious if the traffic source is direct for a particular day when it usually isn’t
- Bounce rates: the bounce rate shouldn’t be more than 95%
- Service provider: the traffic’s service provider should vary
If you notice any or all of these events occurring and cannot trace them back to the source, it is time to take more proper measures.
Implement a firm password hygiene policy
Strong passwords are crucial to maintaining security and privacy for your sensitive data. Ensure that your employees use strong passwords and a secure password manager to help maintain password hygiene.
Apart from that, it is also crucial that you look into failed login attempts within your organizational networks. Rapid volume growth can be problematic, so it is best to keep an alert for such occurrences.
Protect all bad bot access points
Admittedly bad bots mostly attack websites; however, that does not mean you can overlook every other access point. Various exposed APIs, mobile networks, or apps can prove to be the gateway for a mean bot attack.
It is, therefore, crucial to maintain a strict eye over them.
Maintain zero-trust policy
Zero Trust measures work on the philosophy of “guilty until proven innocent.” With this tactic, it is best to maintain a step-by-step evaluation, interrogation, and detection of each bot request.
Once the security module has been classified a bit as “good,” only then let it access your website.
Regularly evaluate bot mitigation techniques
Maintaining a regular overview of bot mitigation techniques you implement within your organization is crucial.
Since cybercriminals are always on the go to update their attack strategies, you should remain aware of evolved attack methods and implement relevant bot mitigation techniques.
Final Words
Bot attacks might seem innocent, but they can be a hassle for every website and business owner. A bot attack can cause damage to your business’s reputation and most likely cause significant financial damages. A disruption in your website might also lead to long-term loss of clients.
Therefore, it is crucial to look into mitigating these attacks. Like every cybersecurity issue, proper mitigation is the best defense against such bot attacks to help you remain secure and protect you from the worst damages.