F5 Networks Inc.

12/13/2021 | News release | Distributed by Public on 12/13/2021 09:03

The Bots are in Business and Business is Good

A significant percentage of attacks on the business today target inherent vulnerabilities. These include well-known credential stuffing attacks to gain access but also include a growing cadre of business attacks that seek to exploit APIs and the increasingly digital interfaces presented to customers.

For example, a grinch bot attempts to purchase, at high volumes, in-demand products with the intent to resell them at a much higher price. Similar to the practice of scalping event tickets, grinch bots are capable of depleting inventory and depriving consumers of the goods they desire, especially during the holidays (hence the name).

The problem is so pervasive that US lawmakers have introduced a bill -the Stopping Grinch Bots Act-designed to punish digital scalpers who destroy children's dreams of receiving the latest and greatest toys for Christmas.

The bill is an extension of the Better Online Ticket Sales Act (BOTS Act) of 2016 that criminalized event ticket scalper bots. They are not the first; several governments across the globe have introduced legislation and regulation designed to address the growing problem of bots attacking business, though few have managed to make it into law.

Unfortunately, such measures do not address the biggest challenge business faces in stopping bad actors from employing bots: identifying them in the first place.

Today, identification of bots requires more sophisticated analysis of signals both behavioral and environmental. There is no single signal that definitively identifies a "bot" today, and even valid credentials can't guarantee a legitimate user behind a transaction. Moreover, that analysis must be performed in real-time to identify-and neutralize-bots before they can become problematic for the business.

So it's no surprise that security in general leads the conversation when it comes to use of AI and machine learning today. The volume and speed at which digital signals are generated-and the consequences of failing to recognize an attack-point to the use of AI and machine learning, which excels at solving problems where speed and scale are involved.