Modern web applications face a growing number of automated threats that exploit critical functionalities, leading to fraud, data breaches, and service disruptions. Bots are used to execute large-scale attacks such as credential stuffing, card testing, inventory hoarding, and data scraping, often bypassing traditional security measures.
Each attack type targets specific business flows, from login and authentication to checkout and API endpoints, making understanding these threats and their impact essential. This topic outlines common bot-driven attack use cases, their methods, and the application areas they affect. By recognizing these threats, organizations can better implement targeted mitigation strategies to protect their users, transactions, and resources.
Attack Use Cases
The following table outlines different types of bot attacks, their characteristics, and affected application flows.
Attack Use Case | Description | Affected Application Flows |
|---|---|---|
Account Creation | Bots automate user registrations to abuse free trials and promotions or create fake identities for fraudulent transactions. | Registration, Signup |
Card Cracking | Bots attempt to guess credit card numbers, expiration dates, and CVVs by making rapid transactions to validate details. | Payment, Checkout |
Carding | Attackers test stolen credit card details by making small purchases, often using bots to validate thousands of cards in bulk. | Payment, Checkout |
Cashing Out | Stolen payment credentials are used to extract funds or make fraudulent purchases, often via automated transaction scripts. | Payment, Account Management |
Credential Cracking | Automated bots attempt to guess weak passwords using brute force techniques, exploiting accounts with commonly used passwords. | Login, Authentication |
User Discovery | Bots enumerate valid usernames or email addresses by submitting login requests and analyzing error responses for account existence. | Login, Forgot Password |
Credential Stuffing | Attackers leverage previously breached username-password pairs and attempt to reuse them across different sites and services. | Login, Authentication |
Scalping | Scalping involves the automated acquisition of high-demand goods or services in a way that gives attackers an unfair advantage over legitimate users. Scalping is not limited to rapid purchasing at the moment of availability but also includes continuous monitoring and automation to secure limited-stock items ahead of human buyers. This practice is most commonly associated with ticketing, retail product launches, and exclusive event registrations, where scalpers acquire bulk items and resell them at inflated prices. Scalping leads to artificial scarcity and can deny genuine users access to these goods or services, significantly disrupting fair market availability. | E-commerce, Ticketing |
Scraping | Scraping is the automated extraction of publicly or privately accessible data from an application, often for competitive intelligence, resale, or unauthorized analysis. Attackers may use compromised or fake accounts to bypass restrictions or exploit unauthenticated endpoints. Scraping techniques include systematically accessing all available URLs, APIs, and parameter values to gather structured or unstructured data in bulk. This process may occur in real-time or be executed periodically to track changes over time. In some cases, scraping is used not just for data collection but also to analyze system behavior, conduct cryptanalysis, reverse-engineer application logic, or perform session analysis to identify vulnerabilities. | Search, Listings, Pricing |
Resource Abuse | Bots generate excessive API requests, consuming server resources and degrading application performance. This may include abusing trial-based services. | APIs, Search, Load-intensive tasks |
Denial of Inventory | Denial of Inventory occurs when automated bots add high-demand items to carts, hold reservations, or occupy limited resources without completing a transaction. This tactic prevents legitimate users from purchasing or booking the affected items, leading to artificial stock shortages and revenue loss. Common targets include e-commerce inventory, hotel and flight bookings, restaurant reservations, click-and-collect services, and queue-based allocations. In addition to consumer goods, attackers may exploit service-based inventory, such as appointment slots, product rations, or budget allocations, to create artificial demand or disrupt business operations. | Shopping Cart, Checkout |
Spamming | Automated scripts flood applications with fake reviews, comments, or form submissions, leading to reputational damage and degraded user experience. | Forms, Reviews, Comments |
SMS Pumping | Attackers exploit SMS-based authentication systems by triggering excessive OTP requests, often with financial incentives from fraudulent telecom partnerships. | Registration, Authentication |