Comprehensive Best Practices for Bot Attack Prevention

Online account security is worth more than ever in the digital age. More widespread cyberattacks make illicit login requests an increasing risk to people and companies alike.

Hackers usually target weak login systems to get unauthorized access to sensitive data, create data breaches, theft of personal information, and steal your money.

To protect from this, there are several simple steps you take. And in this guide, we’ll walk you through the best practices for bot attack prevention.

What Are Some Solutions for Bot Attack Prevention?

1.  Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Multi-factor authentication, or MFA, adds an extra level of security before you log in to a specific website or service, helping avoid a variety of attacks. 

When using multi-factor authentication, or MFA, the person must prove their identity in at least two different ways. How? Well, to confirm their identity, a password could still be required even in this case.

However, you also would use - something that you own, like a phone, something you know, like a password, or something that you are, like your fingerprints, maybe this.

Why it Works:

Even if hackers manage to get your password, they still need the second password or key, like a code sent to your phone or a biometric verification to log in. Unauthorized access becomes a lot harder as a result.

Easy MFA Methods to Use:

• One-Time Passwords (OTP): For every login attempt, one-time passwords (OTPs) are sent to you by email or SMS.
• Authenticator Apps: These are time-based codes created by apps such as Google Authenticator.
• Biometric Authentication: For better safety, these use facial recognition or fingerprint biometric authentication.

2. Use Strong Password Policies

Weak passwords make it simple for hackers to get access to your accnounts. And unfortunately, a lot of people still use passwords like "123456" or "password123,"! This makes it a lot easier to remember but also very quick to crack. To avoid  this, it's important that you set up strong password policies.

What Makes a Password Strong?

A good password should:

• Have a minimum of 12 characters.
• Use a variety of numbers, special symbols, and capital and lowercase characters.
• Steer clear of cliches, private information, and patterns that are simple to figure out (like pet names or birthdays).

Additionally, ask users to stay away from using the same passwords on different platforms and to update their passwords regularly.

3. Implement CAPTCHA

Brute force attacks are another term for cyberattacks that take advantage of false logins and often make use of bots. How so? Well, Bots and actual users can be spotted easily by using CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart).

How CAPTCHA Prevents Attacks:

In this, people may be asked to solve a puzzle or correctly identify specific photos when attempting to log in. This acts as a means of verifying their identity. Why? Well, bots find it a lot more difficult to get past security with this added step.

Types of CAPTCHA:

• Image Recognition: Asking users to identify certain objects in images (like buses or streetlights).
• Text CAPTCHA: People type letters and numbers displayed in an image and is printed weird or distorted.
• Invisible CAPTCHA: This tool can help spot bots in the background without needing any user interaction.

4. Monitor Login Behavior

Since suspicious attempts are quickly identified, it is easy to identify them by keeping an eye on login activity. Login activity tracking tools can provide notifications for various activities, including the quantity of failed login attempts, the time of day, and the login location.

Benefits of Monitoring:

• Detect Suspicious Activity: An assault may be indicated if many unsuccessful login attempts from the same IP address are seen.
• Send Alerts: When suspicious activity is noticed, many systems can send out an alert automatically, allowing you to respond right away.
• Adaptive Security: Some systems automatically adjust security measures based on user behavior, such as asking for additional verification if the login attempt seems unusual.

5. Rate Limiting and Account Lockout

Attackers often test different password combinations until they figure out the right credentials. Websites and apps may use options like rate limitation and account lockout to deal with this.

How It Works:

• Rate Limiting: Restricts the number of login attempts from a single IP address within a given time frame. This slows down brute-force attacks.
• Account Lockout: After a set number of failed login attempts, the account is temporarily locked. Users are then required to wait or complete extra verification to regain access.

By limiting how quickly an attacker can try different passwords, you reduce the risk of successful breaches.

6. Behavioral Biometrics

Users are identified and authenticated using behavioural biometrics based on the repetitive activities they do when using a mouse, keyboard, and other devices. Because these measurements are non-lifelike and difficult for attackers to recreate, they provide an additional layer of protection over credentials.

How Behavioral Biometrics Work:

• Analyze User Interaction: Systems keep track of how users input, scroll, or use their gadgets. Extra validation in some cases, may be asked for if a login attempt varies from the account owner's regular behavior.
• Continuous Authentication: To make sure the genuine user is still using the platform, the system would need to regularly validate their identity during their session.

7. Passwordless Authentication

In actuality, passwords are frequently a weak point in the login procedure. They are shareable, guessed at, or stolen. Passwords are completely eliminated with passwordless authentication, which substitutes safer techniques in their place.

Common Passwordless Methods:

• Magic Links: To log in, users get an email with a one-time link.
• Biometric Authentication: This verifies identification by using fingerprints or face recognition technology.
• Hardware Tokens: These are usually unique codes for login generated by devices such as YubiKeys.

Password-based attacks are avoided and users are spared from having to memorize complicated passwords thanks to passwordless authentication.
8. SSL Encryption

With SSL encryption information between a user's browser and your website is protected through it being encrypted. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption or SSL, makes sure that your data cannot be read or used by a hacker, even if they break into your account or intercept information.

Why SSL is Essential:

• Protects Login Credentials: This ensures that passwords and usernames cannot be stolen while being sent.
• Builds User Trust: SSL-certified websites show "https" in the URL to let consumers know that their information is safe.

Make sure that SSL encryption is in place on your website to safeguard user information.

9. Regular Security Audits

Lastly, it's necessary to maintain a proactive stance by often carrying out security audits. This means assessing your login processes, looking for possible faults, and using the required patches.

Benefits of Security Audits:

• Identify Weak Spots: Regular audits make sure you're ready to protect against emerging hacker methods.
• Stay Ahead of New Threats: These audits also make sure you're ready to protect against the latest hacker techniques.
• Compliance: To stay in line with laws and standards, many industries need to conduct routine security audits to stay compliant, and audits help with this.

10. IP Throttling

IP throttling can help you restrict how many requests someone can send from their IP address during a certain amount of time. This can be especially useful against brute-force attacks, which are an effort by hackers to guess login credentials by continuously attempting to log in.

How IP Throttling Works:

• Limits Request Rate: IP throttling stops attackers from flooding your system with requests by capping the number of login attempts from the same IP address that are permitted within a specific period.
• Blocks Excessive Traffic: The system slows down or temporarily bans a user's access if they make more requests than are permitted. This dissuades hostile users from carrying out their assaults.
• Adjustable Limits: You can configure IP throttling settings to suit your security needs, such as lowering the threshold for sensitive systems or increasing it for normal traffic.

Bottom Line - Bot Attack Prevention Needs A Little Planning

Maintaining login system security against bot attacks is a perpetual task that needs a multi-pronged plan. One thing worth considering is turning on multi-factor authentication (MFA) so as to prevent bot attacks.

IP throttling: Never discount the usefulness of CAPTCHA; Bot detection: This also holds true for methods that compromise the user experience in order to increase security, such as device fingerprinting, session management, and behavioral biometrics.

Want to have better bot prevention that is also easy? You should try out Infisign’s IAM software that allows single sign-on. Reach out for a free demo!

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