This piece is based on an interaction between Forrester’s Research Associate Isabelle Raposo and Principal Analyst Sandy Carielli.
While bots have their advantages – like search engine crawlers that improve search results – bad bots can take over accounts by trying stolen credentials. Bad bots have also been used to spread misinformation regarding COVID-19 and helped book prized vaccine slots for resale.
According to Sandy Carielli, bot management solutions look at the traffic coming into an application and sort through it. These solutions also block and misdirect bad bot traffic to let legitimate human traffic get through.
An effective bot management solution can easily block bots, reduce friction and challenges faced by human users. They can also make it easier to prove that the end-user is a human.
Additionally, bot management solutions implement defences that frustrate bot operators and increase the cost of attacking that application, making it a less appealing target for potential attackers.
[3 minute read]
