In part one of this four-part series on card cracking fraud, we covered the basics of what carding is, how carders use bots to power their attacks, and defined the most important terms and phrases within the carding vocabulary in our Carder’s Dictionary. Click here if you missed it or need a recap. In part two, we’ll be talking more specifically about the carding landscape in Russia and on Russian-speaking forums and online communities.

Carding fraud is a financially devastating attack made more damaging by bot-based automation that allows it to run at scale. Russian cybercriminals are especially prolific in the carding space. The Netacea threat research team recently conducted an in-depth investigation into this notorious carding fraud ecosystem.

Bots are ubiquitous across the web. If your business has an online presence, it’s being targeted by automated attacks. So, it’s unsurprising to us at Netacea that in the Gartner Hype Cycle for Application Security 2023, bot management is classed as an early mainstream technology – less than two years from reaching full maturity. The nature and purpose of bot attacks depends on many factors including industry, seasonality, and even the functionality of the target.

AdLoad malware is still infecting Mac systems years after its first appearance in 2017. AdLoad, a package bundler, has been observed delivering a wide range of payloads throughout its existence. During AT&T Alien Labs’ investigation of its most recent payload, it was discovered that the most common component dropped by AdLoad during the past year has been a proxy application turning MacOS AdLoad victims into a giant, residential proxy botnet.

Businesses are realizing the value of bot management tools as part of their application security strategy, with the control set expected to mature towards mainstream adoption in less than two years. This is according to the latest Hype Cycle™ for Application Security by Gartner®, released this month.

Bots have become integral to our lives, offering many benefits across various industries. Of all these bots, there are good bots, bots for telling dad jokes and (significantly less cool) bots focused on distributing malware. Understanding the types of bots out there should help you harness the power of good bots while helping you identify bots to avoid. This article will explore all types of bots, empowering you to make informed decisions and reap the rewards while keeping risks at bay.

The rollercoaster ride of Elon Musk’s Twitter buyout has taken another twist, as the social media platform looks poised to be rebranded “X”. Should we be worried about the security and privacy implications of Musk’s “everything” app?

Taylor Swift’s Eras tour has literally been the hottest ticket in music over the past few months, with millions of fans scrambling for their spot in arenas and stadiums around the world. But many “Swifties” have been left heartbroken as the demand far outstrips the number of tickets available. To make the pill even more bitter to swallow, there are plenty of tickets available to buy for the sold-out shows – but at many times their face value, on secondary markets.