DEV Community: BotMeNot

Testing bot protection of an API

BotMeNot — Wed, 16 Mar 2022 15:32:33 +0000

Hello Developers!

I just wanted to share an important update for BotMeNot - testing bot protection of an API is now possible!

How can you perform such test? It's very simple, really.

Head over to BotMeNot & create an account (or login)
Select 'API BOT TEST'
Fill out the required fields
Click 'START TEST'
That's it - you'll have the results in a matter of minutes!

Let me know if you've got any questions.

The Legality of Web Scraping

BotMeNot — Wed, 02 Feb 2022 08:25:49 +0000

Web Scraping is an automated technique used for collecting various types of data on web pages.

And while the technical aspects of it may be pretty clear to most of the people reading this, the legal aspects may be not.

In BotMeNot's latest blog post we address this exact topic.

If you're interested you may read more here - https://botmenot.com/blog/the-legality-of-web-scraping/ !

Top 5 harmful effects of malicious bot traffic

BotMeNot — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 15:49:05 +0000

Greetings, Indie Hackers!

I've noticed that there's not much discussion going around here regarding bot protection and the effects that bots can have on a website.

A website with non-existent or weak bot protection is at a high risk of suffering numerous negative consequences due to malicious bot traffic.

The most dangerous harmful effects that bot traffic can have on a website are:

Crashing the website - when a website crashes, its services become unavailable for its intended users. This happens most frequently when a website is a target of a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack. They occur by overwhelming a website with a large number of requests - much more than it can handle.
Slowing down the website's response time - in a way, this is a milder version of a scenario where your website completely crashes. However, as users are becoming less patient, it still poses a real and serious threat.
Scraping content - purposes of scraping content from a website are various. Gathering personal data, monitoring prices, or plagiarism - all these (and more) are a real risk for unprotected websites.
Spamming - many bots are developed to post promotional or some other type of unwanted content to various websites. Sometimes they are able to mimic human behavior extremely well, so it can be difficult to notice them.
Faking orders - this is especially significant for eCommerce websites. The purpose of this action is (in most cases) to check the stock levels of a certain product. However, the negative effect is that it can temporarily cause those products to be unavailable to people who genuinely want to make a purchase.

Interested in learning more about bot protection or even checking out by yourself how well a website is protected against bots?

Make sure to check out https://botmenot.com/

Launched BotMeNot Beta - Looking for Beta Users!

BotMeNot — Tue, 07 Dec 2021 15:44:24 +0000

I'm extremely excited to announce that my latest project - BotMeNot - is finally live in the beta version!

After spending so much time on the development and promotion it's finally here! It's very difficult for me to hold in my excitement!

If you're interested, check out this link - and let me know what you think!

What I've prepared for the beta testers is a gift of 100 free credits to run any type of test you desire. Currently, there are three types - Starter, Light, and Smart!

Also, if you have any questions - feel free to ask!

6 Days Left until BotMeNot’s beta launch on the 7th of December, 2021!

BotMeNot — Thu, 02 Dec 2021 15:58:06 +0000

In case you’ve missed it, we’ve recently announced BotMeNot’s beta launch!

BotMeNot (Beta) will go live on the 7th of December 2021 and if you decide to register as a beta user you’ll receive 100 free credits!

What is BotMeNot about and why should you become a beta user?

BotMeNot is a tool that tests websites’ bot protection levels
It can be used by website owners or anyone interested in bot protection
Currently, there are three types of tests you can choose from - Starter, Light, and Smart Tests
By knowing how well protected a website is, you’ll know what are the chances of bots slowing down the server’s response time
You’ll get to know how easy it is to scrape content from your website.
You’ll be able to understand if your website is at risk of being targeted by spambots
You’ll get to know how effective your current bot protection solution is (if you’re using one)

Interested?

Head over to https://botmenot.com/beta-users-wanted/!

Big Announcement! BotMeNot’s official beta launch date - December 7th, 2021!

BotMeNot — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 15:34:09 +0000

Hello everyone!

For me, things are almost as exciting as they can get! Most of the work on BotMeNot’s initial development is close to completion!

This means that our Beta program will be going live on the 7th of December, 2021!

What’s more - for a limited time we’ll be giving away 100 free credits to everyone who signs up during the Beta testing!

I’m super thrilled to invite you to try out BotMeNot as a beta user and let me know what you think!

Besides the free credits, here’s what you can expect:

Three different types of tests you can run - Starter (1 credit), Light (5 credits) & Smart (20 credits)
Run tests on any website/domain - yours or someone else’s
Get insights into how protected a domain is from bot traffic
Get evidence of the performed tests

Got any questions? Don’t hesitate to ask!

Huge milestone for my latest project - BotMeNot's first test results!

BotMeNot — Thu, 25 Nov 2021 21:27:52 +0000

Hello everyone!

I would like to share an important milestone!

My latest project, BotMeNot, has started to significantly accelerate in terms of development!

Last week we’ve ran its very first bot protection test on its own website - https://botmenot.com/

This week we have tested a couple of more additional websites’ bot protection and we’re excited to share the results with you!

Also, we’ve categorized these websites according to the industry they’re in - so it’s interesting to see which industries prioritize bot protection more than others.

If you’re interested in scoring and how the tests work check out - https://botmenot.com/how-bots-work/

Here are the results! Do let me know if you have any questions!

PS. The design is tentative and prone to change - still considering the expanded and compact versions.

How to stop DDoS attacks?

BotMeNot — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 15:44:00 +0000

The truth is, there is no solution that works in all cases.

Attackers are getting smarter every day and their botnet armies more numerous.

In this article you can read about the most reliable ways someone can protect their network from DDoS attacks!

https://botmenot.com/blog/how-to-stop-ddos-attacks-in-2021/

BotMeNot performs its first test!

BotMeNot — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 08:28:16 +0000

We are very proud to announce that BotMeNot has successfully performed its very first test!

And guess what website did we choose? BotMeNot’s own https://botmenot.com/ :-)

Not only we have tested how BotMeNot works, but we also tested how our bot is seen in raw HTTP log files (in our case - Apache’s .access log).

As you can see - BotMeNot protection score is 40%

Here’s what the results look like!

Let us know what you think!

An insight into how bot detection works

BotMeNot — Wed, 03 Nov 2021 08:59:13 +0000

Detecting a bot is not a piece of cake - knowing that a false positive can lead to unhappy human visitor, who may leave your website.

As you can see in attached diagrams, modern methods of Bot detection rely both on traces which can be found on site's access (HTTP/S) log file, and JavaScript-related features which can be checked only if client's browser does support JavaScript (lack of JavaScript is a strong indication that we're dealing with a bot).

JavaScript checks can go a long way, even detecting input / output devices and checking mouse / keyboard activity.

'Does IP belong to a Datacenter' - this check requires maintaining a database of such IPs - and usually obtained by external vendors.

If you're interested in using BotMeNot as a beta tester or want to find out more about this topic feel free to visit https://botmenot.com/

What do you think about our new homepage? All feedback welcome!

BotMeNot — Mon, 25 Oct 2021 07:59:59 +0000

Hello, everyone!

Here’s BotMeNot’s updated homepage: https://botmenot.com/

Please share any type of feedback you have - what do you like, what do you dislike, any suggestions?

I’m always on the lookout for honest feedback!

Fighting Bots - How does Bax Shop do it?

BotMeNot — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 14:37:31 +0000

There are two perspectives (at least) in every web scraping story: one of the website being scraped and the other of the scraper itself. In this article, we’ll talk about this relationship using a specific example. On one side, there’s Bax Shop, a website selling and renting musical equipment. On the other, there’s Price2Spy – an advanced web crawler, looking to monitor prices on Bax Shop.

We’ll start off by talking about how Bax Shop came to be and give you a glimpse into its roots. Then we’ll focus on the period when they first launched their online store and how initially they fought bots on their website. Afterward, we’ll go over other methods they employed and also cover how Price2Spy adapted to these defenses, in this back-and-forth game of price monitoring.

To read the rest of the article follow the link: https://botmenot.com/blog/how-bax-shop-fights-bots/