Protect Your Site from Bad Bots
Malicious bots are threat intelligence IP scoring to exploit vulnerabilities, deceive users, or disrupt online activities for financial gain or malicious intent. They are typically hidden from view and operate without permission, stealing bandwidth, data, and resources. Bots are a threat to website security and user experiences across industries. Examples include spam bots that scout forums and inboxes to send unsolicited messages, click bots that generate fake ad clicks, and scalper bots that scoop up limited-edition merchandise or concert tickets to drive up resale prices.
These bots often appear in the form of chatbots on websites or social media, posing as real people and attempting to trick you into responding or clicking a link that will lead to a phishing scam, exposing your personal information or installing malware on your device. They are also used to create fraudulent traffic or increase ad clicks for sites, which can artificially inflate analytics metrics and result in inaccurate business insights and skewed revenue generation.
Unauthorized bots can also skew key performance indicators (KPIs) including bounce rates, session durations, and geolocation of visitors. This can render web analytics useless, and impact the results of A/B tests and conversion rate optimization efforts.
To prevent harmful bots from accessing a site, security professionals can utilize tools like CAPTCHA options and firewalls to identify and block malicious traffic. However, detection methods must be accurate and fast enough to keep pace with the speed at which these threats evolve, as well as be sensitive to the user experience so that only malicious traffic is blocked. Dedicated security solutions such as Solid Security are able to detect and block unauthorized bot activity, as well as share blocking information with the wider network to further protect WordPress sites from bad bots.