Tag Archives: Netacea

News, Security

Netacea Announces Partnership Agreement With AVANT

AVANT offers Trusted Advisors a more comprehensive security offering with Netacea’s industry-leading enterprise bot detection and mitigation solution

MANCHESTER, UK & NEW YORK – June 22, 2022— Netacea, the bot detection and mitigation specialist, today announced a new partnership agreement with AVANT, a platform for IT decision-making and investment. Netacea’s award-winning bot management solution will bolster AVANT’s security offerings and provide its network of Trusted Advisors with a more comprehensive approach to combating growing and evolving security threats. As an AVANT supplier, Netacea will also join the company’s Security Council and offer Trusted Advisors with advice and counsel on the growing threat bots pose to businesses worldwide.

According to Netacea’s new report, The Bot Management Review 2022, there is growing awareness and investment in bot mitigation but there are still many misconceptions around the origin, intent, and complexity of bot attacks. For example, more than 50% of respondents still believe bot attacks only originate in Russia and China. More importantly, one key survey finding reveals that businesses are taking longer to react to bot attacks. In 2022, the average time to react to an attack is approximately 16 weeks as compared with between 12 and 14 weeks in Netacea’s 2021 report, The Bot Management Review: What are bots costing your business?

According to Shane McNamara EVP of Operations & Engineering at AVANT, the company chose Netacea as its first bot management supplier over similar solutions for its innovative use of threat intelligence and machine learning.

“Netacea is an ideal supplier for AVANT,” said McNamara. “As the cybersecurity landscape continually evolves, we are committed to addressing the threats global enterprises face and provide Trusted Advisors with the very best and most comprehensive forward-looking security tools. This is why joining forces with Netacea, which has the technology and know-how to fight 21st century threats, makes perfect sense. With Netacea, Trusted Advisors can protect their websites, mobile apps and APIs from automated threats using its bot management Intent Analytics™ engine, decreasing the potential of falling victim to bad actors and their illegal schemes.”

In April, Netacea announced that Forrester identified the company as a Strong Performer in its 2022 evaluation of the bot management market in The Forrester Wave™: Bot Management, Q2 2022 report, receiving the highest possible scores for Threat Detection and Bot Detection capabilities.

Kirk Horton, Vice President of Channels and Partners, who leads Netacea’s NetElite™ Partner Program, which launched in North America in January 2022, said that partners like AVANT are an important part of the company’s global growth strategy.

“In my more than 20 years of experience in building IT channel programs, one important component to a successful partnership has always been the alignment on goals and a shared vision – which is exactly why we’re certain AVANT is a great fit for Netacea,” said Horton. “We’re excited to work with AVANT to deliver Trusted Advisors with industry-leading bot management technology, and provide a comprehensive, 360-degree view of the threats global businesses face daily. We’re confident that through this new partnership, Trusted Advisors will be able to develop and offer a more effective approach to fighting the growing security threats posed by bots.”

Netacea’s revolutionary agentless approach to bot management combines web log analysis with real-time and historic trends to analyse user behaviour and determine intent. The technology is uniquely equipped to detect sophisticated threats, combining extensive signal collection with deep analysis and dashboards that address both security and business context in the enterprise environment.

To learn how Netacea’s NetElite Partner program and how its technology distinguishes bots from humans and protects websites, mobile apps and APIs, please visit the Netacea website.

News, Security

Bot attacks go undiscovered for average of 16 weeks

New Netacea research shows businesses are leaving attacks unchallenged for almost four months

Manchester, UK – 7th June 2022—Netacea, the bot detection and mitigation specialist, today releases its new report into how businesses are dealing with bot attacks. It reveals one key area where businesses are failing to tackle bot attacks—bots are going undiscovered for an average of 16 weeks, up two weeks from last year’s findings.

The study, The Bot Management Review 2022, surveyed 440 businesses across the travel, entertainment, ecommerce, financial services and telecoms sectors in the United States and the UK. It is a follow up to last year’s report, and finds that in almost every measure, businesses appear to be doing worse than last year in the fight against bots—though this may not necessarily mean they are losing the fight.

As well as the finding that bots attacks are going undiscovered for longer, the research also found:

  • Bot owners are shifting their tactics, with 60% of businesses detecting attacks on APIs and 39% detecting attacks on mobile apps (up from 46% and 23% from 2021 respectively).
  • Attacks from each of the main types of bots—sniper, account checker, scalper and scraper—have all increased by between 7-9 percentage points from 2021. 53% of businesses are now detecting attacks from account checker bots.
  • Almost all businesses, around 97%, report that customer satisfaction has been affected by bot attacks.
  • Retailers in the US are reporting fewer loyalty points being stolen by automated attacks, but the value of the average theft has more than doubled, suggesting a more targeted approach.
  • The revenue impact of skewed web analytics, caused by bots being treated as genuine visitors, has increased from 4% to 5%, though fewer businesses report a substantial impact from this particular effect of bot attacks.

“On the face of it, this looks like a very poor result for businesses hoping to fight the effect of bot attacks. Our research has shown that bots have a substantial effect on business revenues, and so it’s in their interest for our results to move the other direction,” said Andy Still, CPO and Co-Founder, Netacea.

“However, we think that the results can be interpreted another way. Businesses are taking time to wake up to the threat of bots, and we see at least part of this increase in bot attacks being down to a greater awareness. Businesses are getting better and recognising bot attacks, and so while it may look like things are getting worse, there is some cause for cheer.”

The report’s results on bot myths goes some way to confirm this theory, with incorrect assumptions about bots believed less than in previous years. Fewer businesses believe that all bot attacks come from Russia and China, that a Web Application Firewall will stop sophisticated bots, and that ReCAPTCHA is an effective tool against all bots. However, more than 50% of businesses still believe these myths, suggesting there is still some way to go.

“Businesses may be beginning to turn the tide against bot attacks, but if so it really is just the beginning,” said Matthew Gracey McMinn, Head of Threat Research, Netacea. “The most damning result of our research, that attacks go unreported for 16 weeks, shows the risk of complacency—bots can essentially run wild for months before the threat is tackled. Better understanding is vital, but just the first step.”

The full report can be downloaded here: https://www.netacea.com/bot-management-review-2022/

News, Security

Netacea Receives Top Score in Bot Detection Criterion in 2022 Analyst Report

Agentless bot management provider ranked among top players in Analyst Report

Manchester, 12th April, 2022 – Netacea, the bot detection and mitigation specialist, today announced it has received the highest score in the Bot Detection criterion in The Forrester Wave™: Bot Management, Q2 2022 report.

Forrester, a leading research organisation that provides advice on existing and emerging technology, has identified Netacea as a Strong Performer in its 2022 evaluation of the bot management market, despite being “among the smallest vendors in this Forrester Wave.” Netacea also received the highest possible score for Threat Research.

The report evaluated 15 top vendors in bot management and notes that Netacea “…consistently punches above its weight in thought leadership and research…” The report found that Netacea, which recently received $12 million in Series A funding, had consistent investment into threat research and data science and “Reference customers applauded the product’s effectiveness and the ‘very attentive’ support team…”

The report, authored by Sandy Carielli, Forrester Principal Analyst, states: “Netacea has made major investments in threat research and data science and gives its delivery team dedicated “blue sky” time to advance new ideas. The vendor exhibits discipline with its go-to-market and execution…

“Reference customers applauded the product’s effectiveness and the “very attentive” support team: “It’s plain to see it working. I like the way the ML approach adjusts to catch new attacks.””

Jeremy Gidlow, Netacea CEO and co-founder said: “We are thrilled with the result of the evaluation and our position in the bot management market. We believe The Forrester Wave™ results reflect the strength of our technology offering and validates our decision to take a different approach to the bot challenge; with particular reference to our detection approach and machine learning model usage and training. To us, this also shows how Netacea truly is an underdog in the bot management landscape as we contend with some providers over twice our size. We are in an excellent position to continue growing our presence in North America as well as our partner programme.”

UK-based Netacea has developed pioneering bot management technology that protects websites, mobile apps and APIs from automated threats using an intelligent detection engine: Intent Analytics™. By identifying and prioritising genuine human traffic, organisations maximise their online revenues, safeguard brand reputation and mitigate risk.

Netacea’s revolutionary agentless approach to bot management combines web log analysis with real-time and historic trends to analyse user behaviour and determine intent. The technology is uniquely equipped to detect sophisticated threats, combining extensive signal collection with deep analysis and dashboards that address both security and business context in the enterprise environment.

News, Technology

Bot myths and fallacies leave two-thirds of businesses at higher risk of malicious attacks

New report from Netacea uncovers the bot myths believed by businesses —leaving them vulnerable

Manchester, UK—15th March 2022—Netacea, the bot detection and mitigation specialist, today announced results from a new report showing that most businesses do not fully understand the threat bots pose, leaving those organisations vulnerable to threats.

The report, The Bot Management Review: Separating Bot Fact from Fiction, surveyed 440 businesses across the travel, entertainment, eCommerce, financial services, and telecoms sectors in the US and the UK. The report found that while most businesses were aware that bots were an issue, many were confused about where attacks originate and what technologies and techniques were effective against bots.

For example, the report shows that more than two-thirds of businesses believe that WAFs (Web Application Firewalls) and DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) protection keep them secure from bot attacks. While these tools will prevent some attacks, they are not effective against bots—leaving businesses vulnerable to attacks that may mean the difference between profit and loss.

Previous research from Netacea found that bots damage businesses both directly and indirectly. Bot traffic costs businesses millions, whether bots are scraping content, buying goods before anyone else or using stolen passwords to take over accounts. However, while businesses understand that this threat exists, this does not mean they understand how to fight it.

The top 5 myths businesses believe about bots are:

MYTH: WAFs will stop sophisticated bots (believed by 73%, including 92% of telcos and 77% of eCommerce businesses).

FACT: WAFs are not designed to stop bot threats, though basic bot mitigation tools may be bundled with this service.

MYTH: DDoS protection will stop all bot attacks (believed by 71%).

FACT: While DDoS protection will help keep websites online when overwhelmed by traffic from a botnet, this type of activity is very different from a bot attack

MYTH: Bot attacks only come from Russia and China (believed by 61%).

FACT: Netacea’s research has found that just over a third of businesses have detected threats from Russia and China. Meanwhile, around half of businesses detected threats from the US and the UK, and many more have been detected from throughout Europe.

MYTH: All bots are bought on the dark web (believed by 58%).

FACT: Increasingly we see not just bots but data dumps of usernames and passwords made available on the “clear web” and accessible to anyone.

MYTH: All bot users are criminals (believed by 55%).

FACT: While bot techniques such as card cracking and account takeover are illegal, many everyday consumers are able to get their hands on “grinch bots” and buy limited edition products faster than any human.

“The first step to preventing any attack is to understand it, otherwise you’re flying blind. In the case of bots, if security teams cannot identify the nature of an attack and are deploying the wrong solutions, they are leaving themselves open to attack,” said Andy Still, CTO, Netacea. “Bots are growing in sophistication and popularity among both professional and amateur hackers. Only with a better understanding of what bots are capable of and what tools and techniques are effective against them will security teams be better prepared for the threat bots pose to their businesses.”

The full report can be downloaded here: https://www.netacea.com/separating-bot-fact-from-fiction-report/