Content scraping is on the rise. While it can benefit your business in some cases, it can also lead to lost revenue, degraded website performance, and content theft. Web scraping is a hot topic in tech news. This trend links to the rise in AI tools, specifically LLMs (large language models), which rely on content to generate their outputs. They scrape content from across the web to train these algorithms. This is a controversial subject with moral, technical, and legal implications.

A recent joint threat advisory from the FBI, CNMF, NSA (18 September 2024), highlights the extent of Chinese-affiliated threat actors’ ongoing botnet campaigns which seek to compromise thousands of internet-connected edge devices over a sustained period. This campaign, known as Oriole, is just one of several such active campaigns observed since 2020. JUMPSEC observations indicate that law enforcement has not yet disrupted the botnet, and indicators of compromise (IOCs) are likely ongoing.

As a security professional considering a robust bot defense strategy, it’s important to understand the ever-evolving nature of bot threats and the critical need for a scalable, robust solution. Traditionally, businesses rely on agent-based bot management solutions, also known as client-side or front-end detection, by deploying small pieces of software (agents) on customer devices to detect malicious activity. However, these approaches carry significant risks.

In the evolving landscape of digital threats, two growing concerns are proving costly for organizations worldwide: insecure APIs and bot attacks. A recent report highlights that these vulnerabilities have escalated dramatically, with global firms suffering financial losses between $94 billion to $186 billion annually. The exponential rise in API adoption, combined with AI-powered bot attacks, has created a perfect storm for cybercriminals to exploit.

Read also: A massive botnet that infected over 200K devices worldwide disrupted, a Chinese man charged for phishing attacks on NASA, and more.

At 8:00 on Saturday, 31st August 2024, millions of people were poised to be part of pop culture history. Four days earlier, on 27th August, seminal Britpop heavyweights Oasis shocked the music world by finally confirming their long-awaited reunion. The reconciliation of brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher sent fans into a frenzy. For millions worldwide, it was essential to get tickets to one of the 17 announced gigs. The demand was enormous.