Editing Internet bot (section)

==Malicious bots==
One example of the malicious use of bots is the coordination and operation of an [[Automated threat|automated attack]] on networked computers, such as a [[denial-of-service attack]] by a [[botnet]]. Internet bots or web bots can also be used to commit [[click fraud]] and more recently have appeared around [[MMORPG]] games as [[computer game bot]]s. Another category is represented by [[spambot]]s, internet bots that attempt to [[spam (electronic)|spam]] large amounts of content on the Internet, usually adding advertising links. More than 94.2% of websites have experienced a bot attack.<ref name="Zeifman"/>

There are malicious bots (and [[botnets]]) of the following types:
# [[Spambot]]s that harvest email addresses from contact or guestbook pages
# Downloaded programs that suck [[bandwidth (computing)|bandwidth]] by downloading entire websites
# Website scrapers that grab the content of websites and re-use it without permission on automatically generated doorway pages
# Registration bots that sign up a specific email address to numerous services in order to have the confirmation messages flood the email inbox and distract from important messages indicating a security breach.<ref name="Bekerman">Dima Bekerman: [https://www.imperva.com/blog/amazon-account-hack-registration-bots/ How Registration Bots Concealed the Hacking of My Amazon Account], Application Security, Industry Perspective, December 1st, 2016, In: www.Imperva.com/blog</ref>
# Viruses and worms
# [[DDoS]] attacks
# [[Botnets]], [[Zombie (computer science)|zombie computers]], etc.
# Spambots that try to redirect people onto a malicious website, sometimes found in comment sections or forums of various websites
# Viewbots create fake views<ref>{{cite news |last=Carr |first=Sam |date=July 15, 2019 |title=What Is Viewbotting: How Twitch Are Taking On The Ad Fraudsters |url=https://ppcprotect.com/what-is-viewbotting/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201043934/https://lunio.ai/blog/ad-fraud/what-is-viewbotting/ |archive-date=1 December 2022 |access-date=19 September 2020 |website=PPC Protect}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Leading StarCraft streamer embroiled in viewbot controversy |url=https://dotesports.com/general/news/starcraft-streamer-viewbot-winter-ballnick-1618 |website=Dot Esports |first=Richard |last=Lewis |date=March 17, 2015 |access-date=19 September 2020}}</ref>
# Bots that buy up higher-demand seats for concerts, particularly by [[ticket brokers]] who resell the tickets.<ref>{{cite web |last=Safruti |first=Ido |title=Why Detecting Bot Attacks Is Becoming More Difficult |url=https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/invisible-invaders-why-detecting-bot-attacks-is-becoming-more-difficult/a/d-id/1329090 |publisher=DARKReading |date=June 19, 2017}}</ref> These bots run through the purchase process of entertainment event-ticketing sites and obtain better seats by pulling as many seats back as it can.
# Bots that are used in [[massively multiplayer online role-playing game]]s to farm for resources that would otherwise take significant time or effort to obtain, which can be a concern for online in-game economies.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Kang|first1=Ah Reum|last2=Jeong|first2=Seong Hoon|last3=Mohaisen|first3=Aziz|last4=Kim|first4=Huy Kang|date=2016-04-26|title=Multimodal game bot detection using user behavioral characteristics|journal=SpringerPlus|volume=5|issue=1|pages=523|doi=10.1186/s40064-016-2122-8|issn=2193-1801|pmc=4844581|pmid=27186487|arxiv=1606.01426 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
# Bots that increase traffic counts on analytics reporting to extract money from advertisers. A study by [[Comscore]] found that over half of ads shown across thousands of campaigns between May 2012 and February 2013 were not served to human users.<ref>{{cite web |last=Holiday |first=Ryan |author-link=Ryan Holiday|date=January 16, 2014 |title=Fake Traffic Means Real Paydays |url=https://betabeat.com/2014/01/fake-traffic-means-real-paydays/ |work=BetaBeat |access-date=2014-04-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150103182810/http://betabeat.com/2014/01/fake-traffic-means-real-paydays/ |archive-date=2015-01-03 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
# Bots used on internet forums to automatically post inflammatory or nonsensical posts to [[Internet troll|disrupt the forum and anger users]].
in 2012, journalist Percy von Lipinski reported that he discovered millions of bots or botted or pinged views at CNN [[iReport]]. [[CNN]] iReport quietly removed millions of views from the account of iReporter Chris Morrow.<ref>{{cite web|last1=von Lipinski|first1=Percy|title=CNN's iReport hit hard by pay-per-view scandal|url=http://create.pulsepoint.com/article/14694943|publisher=PulsePoint|access-date=21 July 2016|date=28 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818210959/http://create.pulsepoint.com/article/14694943|archive-date=18 August 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> It is not known if the ad revenue received by CNN from the fake views was ever returned to the advertisers.{{fact|date=November 2022}}

The most widely used anti-bot technique is [[CAPTCHA]]. Examples of providers include [[Recaptcha]], Minteye, [[Solve Media]] and NuCaptcha. However, captchas are not foolproof in preventing bots, as they can often be [[CAPTCHA#Circumvention|circumvented]] by computer character recognition, security holes, and outsourcing captcha solving to cheap laborers.{{fact|date=November 2022}}