News Insights: The Stopping Grinch Bots Act of 2018

Text – H.R.7160 – 115th Congress (2017-2018): Stopping Grinch Bots Act of 2018

Text – H.R.7160 – 115th Congress (2017-2018): Stopping Grinch Bots Act of 2018

Lawmakers proposed legislation called ”Stopping Grinch Bots Act” aimed at making it illegal to use bots to shop online and also outlawing the resale of items purchased by bots.

NEWS INSIGHT:

From Yoav Cohen, SVP of Product Development at Imperva:

“Consumers are spending more money year around – not just on Black Friday – on limited edition or high-demand products like the season’s hottest toys or the latest shoe release. This demand and the payout is exactly the motivation malicious attackers need to exploit retailers and consumers. And application bots are the easiest method for attackers to get their hands on these goods. Because of their ability to rapidly repeat a specific task, bots are used to do things at a scale that humans can’t or simply don’t want to do. In fact, the latest research says bots make up more than half of all internet activity, and more specifically, bad bots make up almost 30 percent of all internet traffic.

“The Better Online Ticket Sales Act of 2016 was a good first step towards limiting this threat, but the Act only applied to ticket sales and proved to be difficult for law enforcement to effectively prosecute offenders, ultimately not doing much to hinder attackers using malicious bots. The Stopping Grinch Bots Act of 2018 is not only giving retailers a weapon to combat malicious bots, but protecting consumers from paying ridiculous markups – money that funds cybercriminal activity.”