Business News: Let's Talk Bots

Are bots taking over your subscription and or members area of your website? How do you know and what does it look like?

In business we are regularly updating our websites, uploading new socials to interact with our customers and replying to site enquiries, there is little time to have a private life after your business day is done. Yet we must be aware of bots abusing our sites, and protect our consumers against the scams which may harvest their credentials.

So what is really happening behind the scenes?

Automated scripts are scanning your public registration forms to create fake accounts and clutter your database with spam.

Let's start at the beginning. Bots flood databases with spam ultimately to exploit your site to verify live email addresses.

API Probing: This is where bots submit a list of emails to your signup form and if the form returns a specific error like "email already registered", the spammer marks that email address as active and valid.

Password Reset Testing: Attackers trigger your password reset feature in bulk. Responses like "reset link sent" confirm to the spammer that the email account exists and is in the main, monitored.

Double Opt In Triggers: Bots use your registration form to force your system to send verification emails. If the email does not bounce the spammer knows the inbox is active.

Profile update exploits: Once inside a fake account, bots change the profile email. If your system accepts it without bouncing, it confirms a valid data point.

Fundamentally, spammers are filtering out dead emails to build high delivery lists. Validated lists fetch much higher prices on the dark web. Confirmed active users are targeted with highly specific phishing campaigns.

Simple yet effective protection:

Use generic error messages: Always display "If the account exists, an email has been sent" for both successful and failed lookups.

Implement turnstile or reCAPTCHA V3, you know... Which box contains the 3 traffic lights. There is much more to this than meets the eye. Did you realise it is carrying out a behaviour check, watching how you move the curser or mouse before you click. Most people pass instantly with an "I am not a robot."

Resrict the number of registration or reset attenpts allowed per IP address per minute.