Anti-Scraping Scanning Tool Reveals Web Site Vulnerabilities To Block Web Scraping Snd Data Mining

PRESS RELEASE

ROSLYN HEIGHTS, N.Y., July 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The newly released Scanner from ScrapeDefender is the first and only web anti-scraping vulnerability scanner. Designed to quickly identify a web site's weak points, the tool is available now at http://www.scrapedefender.com.

ScrapeDefender's vulnerability scanner functions like a personal anti-scraping consultant, peering deep into the site's code to pinpoint weaknesses. The system then produces an actionable list of recommendations for website owners. Results from a scan are presented in plain English, so there's no delay between seeing a problem and fixing the problem.

Scraping is a big, somewhat shadowy business: ScrapeDefender estimates that content scraping is a $1 billion industry (comprised of software and services) with losses from content theft close to $10 billion. In the past year, Internet job boards have advertised an average of 147 scraping jobs daily as documented by ScrapeDefender's in-house team.

According to Robert Kane, CEO of ScrapeDefender, "Scraping is pervasive among small and large companies including many in the Fortune 1000. Yet many of these same companies also engage in targeted scraping of other sites, borrowing content they do not own and siphoning away value to enhance their own brands."

Bondview, the largest free web site for municipal bond investors, decided to use ScrapeDefender after manually blacklisting suspicious IP addresses. Chris Madden, Product Manager of Bondview, explained, "Bondview's data is its primary economic asset so our business literally depends on protecting it. But rather than employees manually performing IP address blocking, ScrapeDefender automates this protection expertly for us at a fraction of the cost."

Travel, publishing and consumer product websites are among the most attractive targets for scrapers that steal valuable information like price data to use as a competitive advantage.

Any web site owner in any industry that values their content should assess their vulnerability to scraping. Web scrapers extract millions of pieces of information silently and quickly.

Beyond the Scanner, ScrapeDefender has two more protection products releasing soon: The Security tool functions like a roadblock by stopping bots from stealing web site content. The integrated Monitoring tool will offer real-time alerting of suspicious activity. Used together, these three tools provide companies with end-to-end anti-scraping protection of their online information.

ScrapeDefender's mission is to make the Internet safer for businesses by protecting their work. More information on scraping and its harmful effects is available at http://scrapedefender.com/education/.

About ScrapeDefender

ScrapeDefender was founded in 2011 by veteran network security and web content professionals with experience at RSA Security, Getty Images, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citibank, Ernst & Young, EMC and others. As creators and publishers of web sites with valuable content, the founders were tired of seeing their information copied and or stolen via the Internet.