The Reign of Botnets

A top-to-bottom discussion of website bot attacks and how to defend against them

In The Reign of Botnets: Defending Against Abuses, Bots and Fraud on the Internet, fraud and bot detection expert David Senecal delivers a timely and incisive presentation of the contemporary bot threat landscape and the latest defense strategies used by leading companies to protect themselves. The author uses plain language to lift the veil on bots and fraud, making a topic critical to your website’s security easy to understand and even easier to implement.

You’ll learn how attackers think, what motivates them, how their strategies have evolved over time, and how website owners have changed their own behaviors to keep up with their adversaries. You’ll also discover how you can best respond to patterns and incidents that pose a threat to your site, your business, and your customers.

The book includes:

• A description of common bot detection techniques exploring the difference between positive and negative security strategies and other key concepts
• A method for assessing and analyzing bot activity, to evaluate the accuracy of the detection and understand the botnet sophistication
• A discussion about the challenge of data collection for the purpose of providing security and balancing the ever-present needs for user privacy

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. A Short History of the Internet

Chapter 2. The Most Common Attacks Using Botnets

Chapter 3. The Evolution of Botnet Attacks

Chapter 4. Detection Strategy

Chapter 5. Assessing Detection Accuracy

Chapter 6. Defense and Response Strategy

Chapter 7. Internet User Privacy

Ideal for web security practitioners and website administrators, The Reign of Botnets is the perfect resource for anyone interested in learning more about web security. It’s a can’t-miss book for experienced professionals and total novices alike.

In the book, you’ll find powerful insights into the evolution of bot attacks and defense strategies, the motivations of the attackers, how detection methods work, and how to analyze your site’s traffic so you can best respond to patterns and incidents that pose a threat to your business. You’ll also discover how to strike a balance between the ever-present needs for user privacy and security.

Perfect for web security professionals and website administrators, The Reign of Botnets is ideal for anyone who wants to learn more about security on the web. It’s a can’t-miss resource for total novices and experienced security practitioners alike.

About the Author

David Sénécal is a Principal Product Architect at Akamai Technologies, leading a team of researchers, developers, and data scientists to build the next generation of fraud and abuse products. He has over twenty years of experience in network and web security and has dedicated the last 14 years to building bot management products. He’s a regular blogger and speaker at events like the OWASP Global Appsec conference. He was integrally involved in the development and maturation of the bot management concept in the cybersecurity industry.