Website Bot Detection
Website bot detection is a key aspect of maintaining your site’s security. Using a specialized solution can help you distinguish between real humans and bot traffic. Depending on the type of bots you are dealing with, some methods can be straightforward and others require more technical expertise.
Can a website detect a bot?
If you are concerned that a certain number of visits may be fake, check Google Analytics stats to see if there are inconsistencies in the visits. If there are spikes in traffic, it is likely due to bots.
Bots can significantly slow down a business website and negatively impact your analytics. They are also used for malicious purposes, such as defrauding brands. If you witness suspicious activity, report it to your IT team.
Sophisticated bot attackers can fool many systems, including WAFs and botnets, into believing that requests are legitimate. They will try to duplicate all the attributes of a real browser.
A simple way to identify whether a visitor is a bot or a real person is to use device hashes. These are a 32-character MD5 fingerprint. These can be obtained through obfuscated JavaScript files that send back information about the machine that is currently running the browser.
Another indicator of a bot on your website is a high concentration of visitors from a specific location. These visitors may not speak your language. These people may be trying to access content on your site that is not available to them.
In addition to checking your Google Analytics statistics, you should consider a real-time IP reputation solution. This helps prevent bots from submitting forms or scraping your data.