How to Identify Bad Bots that Mimic Human Behavior?

Author: Jenifer Vasquez

Nowadays, bots are widely used to perform repetitive tasks and are designed to work without human instructions. A bot is the same as a robot in carrying complex tasks automatically, but they are different for some reason. While a robot has a physical body like a human, a bot is a computer program with no physical existence. Many businesses or individuals use bots to do some regular tasks without a human presence.

Bad bots and good bots

As humans are both good and bad, just like that, there are good bots and bad bots. For example, good bots are the bots that are advantageous for websites or search engines like Google. Many reputable organizations or companies use these bots. In addition to this, according to various studies, bots are involved in increasing more than 50% of web traffic.

On the other hand, bad bots are the bots used for malicious activities by criminals or hackers.

That is why it becomes vital to be aware of such malicious bots, so a cybercriminal can’t cheat you. Here you will learn some preventive steps to identify sophisticated bots to ensure digital privacy.

Be aware of malicious apps

Malicious apps are one of the tools used by cybercriminals for bad activities. You download lots of apps from app stores but do you know if they are safe or not? Some signs will help you recognize legit apps.

  • Read the app reviews on app stores.
  • Reviews say the app can’t be uninstalled easily.
  • Reviews are about people’s complaints as the app doesn’t work correctly.
  • There are other apps from the same publisher.

Be aware of account takeovers

It is another growing digital threat. We all do online activities on banking sites, ticketing platforms, social media, and e-commerce stores through different login credentials. But do you know bots can steal all these login details for malicious activities?

Furthermore, CAPTCHA filling is mandatory for detecting bots, but this safety measure sometimes can’t distinguish a bad bot from a human. Thus these sophisticated bots steal all your data and create many threats for you.

To secure yourself online, you can apply these steps:

  • Use different passwords for multiple accounts. The best solution for managing passwords is a password manager.
  • Be aware of new links, emails, or text messages.
  • Consider two-factor protection for your accounts.
  • Do not save payment details on websites and shop only through trusted sites.
  • You can secure your online activity through a VPN.

In this digital era, you should always be aware of growing digital threats. Never compromise with online privacy; do whatever you can do to secure your data.

Source: https://mcafeecomactivateusa.wordpress.com/2020/12/01/how-to-identify-bad-bots-that-mimic-human-behavior/