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Internet bots Report Table of Content and complete online tasks faster than humans. There are multiple kinds of bots. The 1.Introduction most common are monitoring bots, bots, or 2.How to get/create a bot? crawler bots, and feed fetcher 3.Malicious bots bots. Monitoring bots observe 4.How to protect from the website and identify areas Malicious bots that can continuously be 5.The Future of Bots improved. This can avoid 6.Conclusion unwanted bottlenecks and 7.Work Cited inefficiencies (Tomek). Crawler bots download an index’s content from all over the . Once the information is collected, the bot will apply a search algorithm to index the data. has only indexed .004% of the internet (Dominguez). There are billions and even trillions of web pages on the internet. This can be Introduction applied to when a user is typing in the search bar and different suggestions appear. Internet bots are web robots run These suggestions can help by software based on performing speed up the process of getting and completing automated tasks to a specific website more online. Some of the tasks are efficiently (Gayer). Feed operating search engines, power fetcher bots are programmed to Application Programming Interface retrieve data to be displayed (API’s), vulnerability scanning, on a website. These bots and monitoring website retrieve information for performances. Bots can also be websites and mobile used to perpetuate distributed applications and display the denial of service (DDoS) attacks data. or take control of someone’s computer with . As internet use increases worldwide, more users have The purpose of bots is to perform access to create different

Internet bots Report | 2 automated pieces of software to bots, what companies are using conduct specified tasks. In them, and their functions. 2020, about 37.2% of all internet users were bots. (Andrew, 2021). Of the 37.2% internet bots, they are broken down into two categories: beneficial bots and Malicious bots.

Google and Bing are among a massive list of companies that employ bots. For example, the Reference: Omega Research | has two different http://botnerds.com/types-of-bots/ functions. The first function is As of spring 2017, Facebook a search through each website on claims about 100,000 bots on a desktop and index the results. their Messenger app while This same method also applies to Twitter has 48 million bot mobile sites (Google). Googlebot accounts. Kik claims 20,000 Desktop and mobile should not bots on its platform and the visit your site more than once Microsoft Bot framework claims every few seconds on average. more than 20,000 developers “Googlebot was designed to be have signed up for bots. run simultaneously by thousands of machines to improve performance and scale as the web How to get/create a grows'' (Google). Facebook is another large company that bot? utilizes bots. One of their bots takes pasted links in posts and There are two options to retrieves thumbnail pictures. obtaining an . The This could be the title page of first option is to download or a website or the embedded tag of use a program that allows you a video (Jackson). Bing deployed to create and modify a bot. The a bot called in 2010 bot is already coded with the that replaced the MSN bot. The proper instructions to run. One bot supplies information to the program is airSlatre. This bing search engine and indexes service allows you to create a the information like a web bot with automated tasks, crawler bot (Jackson). Figure 1 schedule tasks for the bot to shows the different uses of perform, and requires no coding

Internet bots Report | 3 to configure the bot. The Conceptualize the flow: functions of the bot can be Design the functionality of specified once the program has the bot. What specific tasks been selected. For example, you is it going to perform? If can customize a and its it's a chatbot, what are some output. are implemented of the automated it into Discord, Facebook Messenger, will output? and many other messaging Design the Bot: Design the applications. Once you have non-coding frameworks and the customized the functionality of coding frameworks of the bot the bot, then you can deploy it. (Kumar, 2017). This is where Bots can be obtained by the bot starts to come downloading them. Many bots are together. Implement the AI fully functional and available part of the bot to allow it for public use. Examples of to run on its own. downloadable bots are the IBM Use Prototyping Tools: This Watson Assistant, ManyChat, is the testing phase where Amazon Lex, and Google Cloud the bugs can be identified . Some bots are free and resolved before the for the public to use while initial launch (Kumar, 2017). others, for instance, Google’s Make sure the bot meets the Cloud Dialogflow require getting expectations of the initial a quote before obtaining it. goal and can perform the tasks that it is responsible The second option is to create an for. internet bot from scratch. This requires a software engineering team that specializes in AI and Malicious bots bot creation. Malicious bots have been around The process is broken down into almost as long as computers different parts. have been around. Malicious bots conduct illegal activities Find a Purpose: Identify to gain access to private opportunities for an AI-based information, scam users or bot (Kumar, 2017). Questions to temporarily shut down business answer are what kind of bot servers. Malicious bots perform does your company need? What is Distributed Denial of Service the goal of the bot? (DDoS) attacks, ,

Internet bots Report | 4 , Impersonations, and Impersonator bots impersonate Hacking. One of the most people on the web to gain visible DDoS attacks in 2017 access to private information. was an attack on Google. A Impersonator bots often target Chinese-backed hacking group online bank accounts for conducted a DDoS attack on valuable information. Social Google that flooded the security numbers, account internet traffic (Afifi-Sabet, numbers, or any personally 2020). This lasted for about identifying information. Many six months and peaked at 2.5 of the online services have Terabytes per second (Tbps). fraudulent protection services This surpassed the 2.3 Tbps to detect impersonating bots attack on Amazon Web Services for stealing valuable data. in 2020. The target of the Other malicious bots log attack was not disclosed. keystrokes, relay spam, and capture and analyze internet Impersonator bots impersonate packets, which are small people on the web to gain segments of a larger message access to private information. sent over the internet and are Impersonator bots often target combined by the receiving online bank accounts for computer. Logging keystrokes valuable information. Social allows a hacker to access security numbers, account usernames and passwords are for numbers, or any personally a specific account. Many users identifying information. Many use the same username or of the online services have password for different fraudulent protection services accounts. 31.3% of people to detect impersonating bots change their password once or for stealing valuable data. twice a year. 22.4% change Other malicious bots log their password more than five keystrokes, relay spam, and times a year and 17% change capture and analyze internet their password every few months packets, which are small (Lord, 2020). 29.4% of people segments of a larger message rarely change their passwords sent over the internet and are while only 10.9% of people combined by the receiving never change their passwords computer. Logging keystrokes (Lord, 2020). This makes it allows a hacker to access easier for criminals to access usernames and passwords are for all of your accounts. a specific account. Many users

Internet bots Report | 5 How to protect from same time. Malicious bots This is to ensure that no computer is left vulnerable and Malicious bots pose a threat to make it an easy target for disclose private information. hackers and bots. As computers Businesses are increasing their and software evolve, bots safety measures to protect their become more and more difficult data, websites, and customers. to detect. Businesses can One small way you can protect protect themselves from yourself from malicious bots is malicious bots by integrating a to always stay up to date with web security scanner into their the latest version of any given systems. This will allow you to software. All of the company have an end-to-end view of your computers should be on the same most vulnerable points. One platform and update around the technology has

Reference: Omega Research | www.imperva.com/learn/application-security/what-is-captcha/

Internet bots Report | 6 emerged to isolate any IP This is one of the more common address showing aggressive or CAPTCHA services. Another unusual behavior. This can lead variation is CAPTCHA Image. to the early detection of This will prompt the user to malicious bots before they select all of the images that enter your website. There are are of an object or animal. other bot mitigation services This could be a dog, cat, a available that give you full bus, a traffic light, street control over the wide range of sign, etc. Figure 3 is an bots that access your website example of a CAPTCHA Image. every day. With this This example shows that the technology, they can identify user has to match all of the outdated users. These user images to the one in the top agents can be blocked or caught right. No program or software by a Completely Automated is perfect to protect from Public to tell malicious bots. Some of the Computers and Humans Apart drawbacks of using CAPTCHA are (CAPTCHA). CAPTCHA is a program that it is disruptive and or system intended to frustrating for users, can be distinguish humans from machine difficult to understand, some input (Imperva in-text CAPTCHA types are not supported citation). One example of on all browsers, and some CAPTCHA is the text-based CAPTCHA types are not system. This is shown on accessible to users who view a websites when it prompts the website using screen readers or user to verify if they are assistive devices (Imperva). human. The user is prompted to CAPTCHA is not the only enter a series of characters solution to protecting from that range from lowercase and malicious bots. It is only part uppercase letters and numbers. of the solution. Other Above in Figure are some practices need to be examples. implemented to ensure the safety of the website and the This is one of the more common data. Companies can host CAPTCHA services. Another training programs and security variation is CAPTCHA Image. awareness, block known hosting This will prompt the user to providers and proxy services, select all of the images that protect every access point, are of an object or animal. carefully evaluate traffic This could be a dog, cat, a sources and failed login

Internet bots Report | 7 of these voice assistants allow The Future of Bots you to control objects in a household, purchase from the The future of bots is growing developer’s website, and rapidly. As technology advances, function as a speaker. This is bots will advance with new tasks only a shortlist of functions to perform and different of Siri and Amazon Alexa. In functionalities. The mark size in 2019, 3.25 billion voice 2019 was $2.6 billion and looks assistants were being used. to grow to 9.6 billion in 2024 This number increased to 4.2 (“The Future of Bots”). The billion in 2020. It is future of bots will continue to projected that in 2024, 8.4 grow as computers become more and billion voice assistants will more a part of our daily lives. be used. The figure below Humans will learn to adapt to clearly shows the 5 most internet bots and the growing popular chatbot builders in functionality. Chatbots are 2020. becoming more and more personalized to better user experiences. The added personalization stems from the combination of Natural Language Processing (NPL) and Machine Learning practices. Both of these technologies automate tasks Reference: Omega Research | Most Popular previously done by humans and Chatbot Builders in 2020: In-Depth Research. allows bots to evolve from a As a result of the diagram, menu-based approach to a more ManyChat has about a search human-like conversational and volume of 318,930. Dialogflow user intent approach. Many has about 82,640, Chatfuel has researchers are developing and 79,130, MobileMonkey has improving the AI and learning 21,100, and Haptik has 20,610. capabilities in chatbots. In total, this adds up to Chatbots are now moving into 522,410 search volume per month voice assistants, Siri and Amazon (Woren, 2021). Alexa.

Siri has been around since late Conclusion 2011. Each year, these services become more advanced and In conclusion, developers are introduce new features to make designing new bots with more the user experience better. Both

Internet bots Report | 8 advanced AI and Machine Learning. “Create Bots.” AirSlate.com, This allows bots to process www.airslate.com/product/f/1 information independently. This 533088-create-bots? applies to both beneficial bots gclid=CjwKCAjwu5CDBhB9EiwA0w and malicious bots. Many 6sLTJHftM0Rm1DgEBgc- precautions are being taken by OgtRWAoq- businesses to protect themselves cmpuhZT2wHMeyzpJYkdF4CNuivRo from these bots. Over the past C23EQAvD_BwE. year, companies are using Dominguez, Trace. “How Much software services to create bots of the Internet Is Hidden?” specific to the needs of the Seeker, www.seeker.com/how- business, for instance, much-of-the-internet-is- protection, and accessibility to hidden-1792697912.html. confidential information. Bots “The Future of Bots and Why will become more accessible in They're Here to Stay.” the future and be implemented in SnapEngage, 23 Aug. 2020, different ways applicable to the snapengage.com/the-future- goals of the organization. of-bots-and-why-theyre-here- to- stay/#:~:text=Bots%20provide Works Cited %20continuous%20customer%20e ngagement,to%20be%20open%202 Afifi-Sabet, Keumars. “Google 4%2F7.&text=As%20chatbot Blocked Record-Breaking %20technology%20continues%20 2.5Tbps DDoS Attack in 2017.” to,to%20%249.4B%20by%202024. IT PRO, IT Pro, 19 Oct. 2020, Gayer, Ofer. “What Is an www.itpro.com/security/357465/ Internet Bot: How Bots Can google-reveals-blocking- Hurt Your Business.” Blog, record-breaking-25tbps-ddos- Imperva, 16 Oct. 2018, attack-in-2017. www.imperva.com/blog/underst Andrew, Neil. “What Percentage anding-bots-and-your- of Internet Users Are Actually business/. Robots?” PPC Protect, 22 Mar. Google, Google, 2021, ppcprotect.com/how-many- developers.google.com/search of-the-internets-users-are- /docs/advanced/crawling/goog robots/#:~:text=up%20online%20 lebot. users%3F-,What%20Percentage%20 Jackson, Brian. “Web of%20Online%20Users%20Are%20Ro Crawlers and User Agents - bots%3F,August%202020%20to%20N Top 10 Most Popular.” ovember%202020. KeyCDN,www.keycdn.com/blog/w eb-crawlers.

Internet bots Report | 9 Kumar, Saroj. “How to Develop www.statista.com/statistics/ a Chatbot From Scratch - DZone 973815/worldwide-digital- AI.” Dzone.com, DZone, 23, voice-assistant-in- Oct. 2019, use/#:~:text=Number%20of%20d dzone.com/articles/how-to- igital%20voice%20assistants% develop-a-chatbot-from- 20in%20use%20worldwide%20201 scratch. 9%2D2024&text=In%202020%2C%2 Lord, Nate. “Uncovering 0there%20will%20be,higher%20 Password Habits: Are Users' than%20the%20world%27s%20pop Password Security Habits ulation. Improving? (Infographic).” Wouters, Joren. reply, et Digital Guardian, 29 Sept. al. “Most Popular Chatbot 2020, Builders in 2020: In-Depth digitalguardian.com/blog/uncov Research.” Chatimize, 19 ering-password-habits-are- Jan. 2021, users-password-security- chatimize.com/popular- habits-improving- chatbot-builders- infographic#:~:text=But%20how% 2020/#:~:text=The%20winner%3 20frequent%20is%20too,to%20two A%20ManyChat,ManyChat%20is%2 %20times%20per%20year. 0searched%20318%2C930%20time Tomek, Michal. “Robotic s. Process Automation: Monitoring “What Does CAPTCHA Mean?: Bots As a Necessary Step to CAPTCHA Types & Examples: Success.” Minit Process Imperva.” Learning Center, Mining, Imperva, www.minit.io/blog/robotic- www.imperva.com/learn/applic process-automation-monitoring- ation-security/what-is- bots-as-a-necessary-step-to- /. success. Tsvetkova, Milena, et al. “Even Good Bots Fight: The Case of .” PLOS ONE, vol. 12, no. 2, 2017, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.01717 74. Vailshery, Lionel Sujay. “Number of Voice Assistants in Use Worldwide 2019-2024.” Statista, 22. Jan. 2021,

Internet bots Report | 10 Internet bots Report