Bots -- Harmful Or Helpful?

There has been a lot of talk in the news lately about bots -- software web robots that run automated tasks over the internet. Bots typically perform simple and repetitive tasks much faster than humans can. There are personal assistant bots, chat bots, command line bots, and even app stores for bots. Facebook launched a bunch of new bots, Google has a home device with a bot built in, and Microsoft is in the bot game, too.

Bots have been around for several decades, but they are growing in popularity thanks to advances in machine learning and natural language processing algorithms. These new bots mimic humans, know your personal preferences, and act on your behalf, prompting conversation, answering questions, and making reservations or purchases. But are these bots safe to use, and can they be trusted?

Are Bots Trustworthy?

As with anything related to software, there are good software programs and bad ones; bots are no exception. Good bots come from reputable sources, perform useful tasks, and help their human counterparts be more productive. In fact, many good bots have been around for years with no incidents 

Bad bots are more active, generating up to twice as much internet traffic as good bots. As bot capabilities get more sophisticated, hackers are using bad bots to impersonate humans, troll the web for vulnerabilities, gather pricing information, or automate attacks. In some ways, bad bots are no different from other malware. They can infect files, steal credentials, send spam, invoke phishing attacks, run denial of service (DoS) attacks, and open backdoors into critical systems.

However, the bigger threats to your business may be price scraping, content theft, and product or service aggregation, cutting into your revenue and margins. We’ve recently heard about bad bots purchasing large amounts of entertainment tickets for resale at higher prices. Bots are also actively working to get your pricing information for competitors or discounters, stealing your content for reuse, damaging your search engine optimization (SEO), influencing your advertising, and skewing your analytics.

Your customers and employees are also being targeted, as bots try to steal personal information and credentials for aggregation and resale. These bots learn personal preferences, activities, and interests; watch your movements; and steal your confidential information without your knowledge. Additionally, cybercriminals could remotely control your computer and perform illegal activities such as stealing your intellectual property, spreading spam, and distributing malware via bots. As good bots grow in popularity and sophistication, bad bots will also grow in complexity to evade current tools and imitate humans.

How To Spot Bad Bots

Here are some tips for identifying bad bots:

Good and bad bots are probably here to stay, and they will continue to grow in capability as we learn more about natural language processing and expand machine-learning capacity. Security systems and defensive techniques will develop along with bot capabilities. What is your opinion of the opportunities and threats of bots? Let us know in the comment section below.