Co-authored by Kasada’s Threat Intelligence Team
The bot has become so popular in the media that Elon Musk has made it his personal mission to get rid of it. twitter botthe bot was accused buy taylor swift ticketsand previously illegally steal and sell pharmacy prescriptions.
In 2023, we predict that bots will continue to make headlines, commit fraud, influence public opinion, and uncover innovative ways to shape the economy.
Check out our cybersecurity predictions below 
Prediction 1:
Online organizations encounter numbers documenting bots performing account takeover (ATO) and fake account creation for creative fraud schemes.
Just weeks into the new year, automated attacks are already behind many of the major security breaches that have already made headlines. increase. large scale fraudsecurity company A stored password has been compromisedand today an electronic payment platform was shared Customer accounts and data exposed.
In each of these incidents, the attackers utilized automation to perform credential stuffing Attacks aimed at monetizing efforts. We often see stolen or fake accounts monetized through traditional scams such as payment fraud, loyalty program fraud, and promotional abuse.
In 2023, bots will be used to carry out even more creative fraud schemes that affect the operations and revenues of e-commerce organizations.
Figure 1: Bot operators are involved in emerging fraud schemes such as retail refund scams, streaming scams, and BNPL scams.
It is worth noting that their monetization is not based solely on fraud schemes, as fake and stolen accounts make up a large part of the underground bot economy. Attackers also make money by selling their methods as tools. In the same way that proxies are tools used to hide the origin of cyberattacks, botting tools include things like account creation. The more difficult it is to create a fake account with a particular ecommerce organization, the higher the resale value of the account/tool. Similar to fraud, this impacts the company’s bottom line as there are costs associated with consuming resources and verification methods such as his OTP.
Prediction 2:
Bots are used to change public opinion
If you use social media platforms, you’ve probably seen bot activity. However, bots shape public opinion, influence purchasing behavior, spread misinformation and disinformationBots can be very dangerous because they are a relatively cheap and effective way to amplify messages and opinions at scale and reach hundreds of thousands of people instantly. Disseminated information can be blatantly false or fabricated, and can change public perception. With the US elections imminent, we believe bots will continue to play a major role in sharing political news and information this year. Best Efforts to Crack Down on Fake Accounts.
Prediction 3:
Bot operators influence and shape the economy
bot trends stock price manipulation, Supply and demand control, and its impact on online gambling will continue to have an impact in 2023. This could result in a more volatile market for both businesses and consumers.
Hype is just one example of how bots can control inventory to effectively increase the price of certain products. Kasada’s threat intelligence team observed that people were successfully botting on certain products, actually lowering the price of the product and reducing the return on investment (ROI) for resale. The botting community then collectively agreed to limit their success in order to raise the resale price so they could maximize their profits.
Data-backed observations from Kasada’s Threat Intelligence team
Our various predictions are based on recent observations of the bot ecosystem. The data suggests that attackers are more motivated than ever to maintain their profits. Based on the data, it currently looks like this:
- Bot Attacks Easier: Advanced services and tools used to evade security detection are becoming more common in the underground. These services allow people who may not have technical knowledge to launch large-scale attacks against major organizations at low cost.
- Malicious actors are on the rise using automation and AI: Lower barriers to entry have led to an increase in younger age groups entering the market. We also see more bot operators crossing the line from using bots to buy and resell high-demand items like sneakers to engaging in illegal activities like online fraud. doing.
- Bot operators have more economic motivation than ever before. During times of economic uncertainty, individuals turn to fraud and cybercrime to make extra cash, while organized crime takes advantage of market conditions to maximize profits.
Conclusion:
When you take our observations of the threat and fraud landscape together with the state of the economy, all signs point to bots wreaking havoc on businesses and individuals this year. Automation will power sophisticated cyberattacks and online fraud. Businesses and individuals must remain vigilant to ensure their accounts, endpoints, and APIs are safe from malicious automation and malicious bots.
To learn more about trends and forecasts for 2023 and how to defend against automated attacks, register for an upcoming webinar or schedule a time to meet with our experts.
*** This is Kasada’s Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog written by Maddy Lewis. Read the original post: https://www.kasada.io/3-cybersecurity-predictions-for-2023/
