SPOTING BOT - Part Two

SPOTING BOT:

When a BOT or its friend is at work, the browser directs you to sites and pop under, and when you quit the browser, it gets re-launched after a few minutes. Chances are that your computer is part of a chain of online events which create NHT on the web, the purpose of which may be to attack a site or a server.

Malicious traffic, malware, hacking attempts, viruses, slows down the Internet and delay legitimate traffic and services. BOTs are used to target systems or take down web-sites, NHT generates fake clicks on advertisements to increase website statistics.

One of the perils of ignoring artificial web traffic is that it gets counted for real impressions for which clients end up paying.

Chirag Cherian, Director, Online PR at Perfect Relations, brand management firm says that, “Unless there is a curb on this practice of malicious NHT, one stands at risk of being duped by marketers, agencies and even clients.”

Recent studies have estimated BOT Traffic to be between 4% and 31% of total web traffic in the US; which in dollars 650 million and dollars 4.7 billion in wasted marketing spend.

A leading Chinese advertising technology company Miaozhen Systems says, “NHT caused advertisers in China to lose approximately $ 1.6 billion between July 2012 and June 2013.

continued..........part three

All about BOT

WHAT IS BOT?
(Part One)

A BOT is a computer program/software that mimics human behavior on the Internet. BOTs can be used to create artificial accounts on Social Media, provide numerous likes on a particular page, send tweets or visit various websites. All this done, without any human involvement.

BOTs already constituent a significant percentage of Non-Human Traffic (NHT) online, according to some estimates, eclipsed human traffic. Non-Human Traffic (NHT) is also known as Artificial Traffic, according to COMSCORE, a US based Internet Technology Company. This NHT traffic increased from approximately 6% of the total web traffic in 2011 to 36% in 2012. According to “IN CAPSULA”, a cloud-based security service company 60% of web traffic was non-human in 2013.

Other than BOTs, NHT on web includes traffic generated by internet routers and back end services used by websites to communicate with third parties.

In India, in 2011 to 2012, there was a 280% increase in BOT infections says, the Symantec Internet Security Threat Report-2012. According to this report 17% of BOT infected computers were in India, the highest no. in the world. 15% of global BOT-net spam is generated here. Further it states that, 69 Indian cities are prone to BOT infections.

continued...................
Reference: Hindustan Times: dtd. 05 January 2014

SPOTING BOT:

(Part Two) 

When a BOT or its friend is at work, the browser directs you to sites and pop under, and when you quit the browser, it gets re-launched after a few minutes. Chances are that your computer is part of a chain of online events which create NHT on the web, the purpose of which may be to attack a site or a server.

Malicious traffic, malware, hacking attempts, viruses, slows down the Internet and delay legitimate traffic and services. BOTs are used to target systems or take down web-sites, NHT generates fake clicks on advertisements to increase website statistics.

One of the perils of ignoring artificial web traffic is that it gets counted for real impressions for which clients end up paying.

Chirag Cherian, Director, Online PR at Perfect Relations, brand management firm says that, “Unless there is a curb on this practice of malicious NHT, one stands at risk of being duped by marketers, agencies and even clients.”

Recent studies have estimated BOT Traffic to be between 4% and 31% of total web traffic in the US; which in dollars 650 million and dollars 4.7 billion in wasted marketing spend.

A leading Chinese advertising technology company Miaozhen Systems says, “NHT caused advertisers in China to lose approximately $ 1.6 billion between July 2012 and June 2013.

continued............part two

COMBATING NHT: (Part Three)

Most servers have defence mechanisms to tackle spam and cyber-attacks. Websites are also asking for human authentication which is difficult for a BOT to execute. Still, personal computers should be equipped with strong Internet Security Applications such as Anti-virus and Anti-spyware to prevent hacking and phishing attempts and to prevent being used as slave machines for distributed cyber-attacks. We need to watch out where and how we go online.

2013 Norton Report says, “61% Indian access their social network accounts from unsecured wi-fi connections, while 42% access bank accounts and 44% shop online using unsecured wi-fi connections.”

Social media companies gradually devising mechanisms to filter BOTs.

Facebook’s site integrity policy mentions, “When a page and a fan connect on Facebook, we want to ensure that connection involves a real person interested in hearing from a specific page and engaging with that brand’s content. As such, we have recently increased our automated efforts to remove likes on pages that may have been gained by means that violate our terms.”

Agency-client intervention is necessary to ensure that artificial traffic is not presented as real. It is also important to make all agencies, advertisers and clients aware of their responsibility to keep the Internet free from malicious NHT.

Government involvement is also needed to control the problem of malicious BOTs. Until we have robust mechanism to filter out bogus traffic from real, it will be difficult to say whether the social media followers are human or not.

Continued……………part four -  Ref:  Hindustan Times dtd. 5^th January 2014

HOW TO MAINTAIN SMART PHONE SECURITY?

SMART PHONE SECURITY:

                If your SMART PHONE is being pick-pocketed or lost or stolen, then there are chances that you may lose your private data to some vulnerable hands. Being a Smart Phone, there are more chances that it may be stolen and the information that consists in it may be used by the thieves for their personal benefits; therefore, the data should be incrypted.

                Smart Phone may consist of sensitive & personal information likes personal bank account no.; passwords; credit/debit card nos.; pin nos. etc. But if you lose your smart phone you may lose this information too. If you in script your data, there is no guarantee that it will not go to unsolicited hands, but at least may remain secure.

DO YOU USE SMART PHONE – THEN YOU MAY BE DOING THIS:

1)      DATA:  Whenever we install apps, we knowingly / unknowingly do various kinds to install that app; because of which the developer get chance to know our all sensitive / non-sensitive private information which may be sold by them or used by them for their personal gain. These types of apps are available on Google’s Play Store or Apple’s I Tune Store.

2)      Mobile phones are prone to attack by phishing, spyware or surveillance.

3)      In phishing attack your sensitive important information like passwords, credit card no. etc. is asked for through these phishing mails.

4)      In spyware attack, your important information is attacked and hijacked without your information.

5)      In surveillance attack, your mobile’s GPS information is collected and through that attacker collects your information regarding visits, where you go, your most visited sites, etc. which information then may be used by attacker for house-breaking, shop-breaking etc.

6)      Network Spoofing:  Whenever we find open Wi-Fi networks at malls or any other places, we immediately connects to internet and access social media websites, bank sites, etc. where attacker can attack and collects our personal information and may be used by them for their personal gain.

TIPS FOR SMART PHONES SECURITY:

a)      Always keep safe your password or pattern code for mobile, due to which your mobile/smart phones may at least remain secure for some time.

b)      Take care whether your phone gets automatically locked up.

c)       Install security software. While installing these types of apps, see that whether data can be wiped out, whether phone can be located with the help of this app.

d)      If our smart phones is stolen and switched off by the thieves, in that case, this app will show us the lost location, where the phone is switched off. Therefore install such types of Anti-Virus software apps only having so many good features.

e)      Wi-Fi, Bluetooth should be kept closed, when not in use. Only open when required.