In software engineering, a bot is a piece of software that automates requests to a web, network, or local service to generate a desired response. For example, an automated request to an authentication server returns an OTP to your phone upon login. Alternatively, a bot can exploit vulnerable services in your SaaS-based project management software, steal company information through a rogue API, and then sell the information to your competitors.  

On a larger scale, a cybercriminal can employ a network of bots, known as a botnet, to orchestrate coordinated cyberattacks on a network of computers to trigger a botnet attack. Bot attacks are a common ingredient when running a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on a web service.

Even the largest tech firms aren’t immune to widespread DDoS attacks despite deploying the most sophisticated security placements in their infrastructure. However, they’ve gained expertise in averting DDoS attacks that even 2.4 Tbps DDoS attacks don’t cause any disruption to their services.

If you’re under the impression that CAPTCHAs will prevent bot attacks on your services, then you need to know that advanced algorithms are available to bypass CAPTCHAs.

Securing your web services and APIs against bot attacks requires a combination of best security practices, access control, system monitoring, and system updates.

The implications of a coordinated bot attack

Sophisticated bot attacks can grow from a single computer to infect an entire network of systems to establish a botnet. These botnets can run security scans on public APIs and services to exploit vulnerabilities, gain access to a database, and extract personal and financial information. A fairly large database can attract thousands of dollars on the dark web.

Ransomware is known to encrypt critical data files unless a ransom amount is paid. Ransomware is often an aftermath of widespread bot attacks. Even the most protected organizations are prone to social engineering and phishing attacks. A cybercriminal disguised as a colleague can extract crucial security information to bypass your external security arrangements, gain access to your API server, install a botkit, and infect users accessing your APIs to establish a botnet. A phishing attack on Sony Pictures triggered a bot attack and made the firm lose $100 million. The attack was allegedly triggered by an employee following a malicious link to reset his password.

Bot attacks can also be designed to target specific individuals and organizations. Targeted bot attacks are often commissioned by the state and corporate actors to conduct espionage on their rivals, crush competitors, and prosecute critics and may have serious business and political consequences. It’s important to note that targeted bot attacks are rare.

Before we look at how to prevent bot attacks, it’s important to understand how to identify them.

Identifying a bot attack

Expert users are able to identify bot attacks as they’re able to tell a compromised system from a secure system. Botnets rely on a central server for commands and actions. The key to stopping the propagation of the malware to more computers in a network is to identify and disable the central server itself.   

Traditional security solutions can detect malware and safely remove it. However, they’re ineffective at detecting the details of the central server and blocking access to it.

Detecting the details of the central server is a tedious activity that requires thorough analysis of the network, devices, and services. You may have to scan individual ports on the local network for any instance of unusual spikes and activity involving your APIs and services.

Antivirus software can scan the target device or web service for infection but may fail to trace the line of infection.

Honeypots are gaining traction as an effective tool to counter bot attacks. Honeypots are fake tools that bait the botnet to reveal the line of attack and hence the details of the central server.

For targeted botnet attacks, for example Mirai botnet, ISPs may collaborate to figure out the flow of the infection to identify the origin server and block access to it. Likewise, IT security firms can come together to make it easier to detect compromised devices.

Preventing bot attacks

As bot attacks have become more sophisticated, they’re becoming harder to detect let alone prevent. For compromised organizations, the most difficult part is finding the extent of the damage caused by a bot attack. There’s no easy way to find which systems are compromised and they must be disconnected to prevent further spread of the infection.

Today’s networks are a lot more diverse than they were a few years ago. Modern networks aren’t confined to one device but a series of servers, desktops, tablets, phones, etc.

With such diversity in the network, enforcing a single organization-wide security policy becomes impossible. With each type of device carrying their own set of security settings, they become challenging to monitor and track and to detect and prevent bot attacks.

Nevertheless, there are certain steps you can take to put your organization at less risk of bot attacks.

Keep your device, OS, and applications safe

The principal pathway that a botnet follows to infiltrate and compromise an organization’s network security systems is through the unpatched vulnerabilities present in your endpoints and servers. There are dedicated botkits available on the dark web that let a perpetrator scan your business-critical systems for known vulnerabilities which they can then use to gain access and steal confidential information regarding your customers and employees.

If your hardware or software vendor is issuing an update to patch one of the security vulnerabilities in your systems, that means it’s now a known vulnerability and you’re at a higher risk of a bot attack until it’s patched.

A zero-day vulnerability is either unknown to those who should be interested in its mitigation or known and a patch hasn’t been developed. If the zero-day exploit affects a system or database in your organization containing confidential information, then you must patch it as soon as the vendor releases an update.

Zero-day exploits are known to effect hardware devices too. Spectre and Meltdown are two security threats that make intel processors vulnerable to bot attacks regardless of the security of the OS layer.

Legacy hardware, even unused, possesses a risk as long as it’s connected to the same network.

Adopt basic cybersecurity practices

It goes without saying that you should encourage your employees to use secure passwords that’s a combination of lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Also, customer data must be encrypted at rest and transit. This means that even if somebody could sniff the network, they’d get nothing more than strings of incomprehensible hashes.

Microsoft invites white hat hackers to its campus every quarter and rewards them if they break into their systems and expose vulnerabilities in their cloud services. A number of tech firms do this and issue bounties if individuals find vulnerabilities in their services.

Control access to machines

Limiting access rights to your systems will limit a perpetrator’s chances of high jacking your network and triggering a bot attack.

Limited control of critical systems widens logical separation between various machines in a network. This makes it easier to pinpoint bot attacks to a subset of compromised devices.

What it takes to prevent bot attacks

Prevention of bot attacks needs ingenious procedures to identify the attacks before they hit. You may need access to advanced analytics to monitor sudden changes in traffic and report them back to your security teams.

Data leaks are another long-term impact of a bot attack. However, as long as you update the software and devices, follow the best security practices, and deploy granular security policies, you’re in the low-risk group of bot attacks.

Rare Crew is a leading consultant in the field of IT and software development. The software we develop has security advantages over conventional software due to our experience with different industries and potential threats. Reach out to us and let’s find the right solution!