Bot attacks , the malicious and damaging use of automated computer programs known as bots (or BOTS), have become a growing concern and a pervasive reality in the modern digital landscape. BOTS, or software robots, are automated programs originally designed to perform tasks on the Internet without human intervention. Unfortunately, hackers have also managed to turn them into a hacking technique, created with malicious intent, to manipulate, defraud or disrupt a site, application, API or users, potentially causing enormous damage to businesses and users, compromising the security of systems and data. To carry out their BOTS attacks, the majority of hackers use software called botkits, which are freely available online and sold on the Dark Web. Vendors of this type of software also offer paid services to carry out BOT attacks, including software to power DDoS attacks. BOT attacks include, but are not limited to, Email Spam , which is used to send spam emails containing malicious software
LexisNexis Risk Solutions has just published its study on cybercrime in the year 2022 pointing to a 20% annual increase in the rate of digital attacks worldwide with significant peaks in Asia-Pacific, Latin America and North America at the end of the year. The study, which is based on the analysis of 79.8 billion transactions, highlights that alternative payment methods, such as digital wallets, QR code payments and person-to-person transfers, continue to grow in popularity, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region with a 50% year-on-year increase in the region's payment attack rate. The implication, according to Stephen Topliss, Vice President of Fraud and Identity Strategy, is that "multi-factor authentication alone as a defence is inadequate in today's digital world. Organisations, industries and countries need to collaborate and identify the interconnected signals of complex fraud attacks, as criminal networks working in a structured manner are here to stay. To comb