What is Malicious Activity- Is it the same as bot activity? (2024)

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Bots and fake users have unfortunately become incredibly common in today’s world. Some argue that as high as 61.5% of the internet is non-human. But how does this relate to malicious and fraudulent activities online? And are all bots actively harmful? This article will explain the meaning of malicious activity and how that relates to both human and non-human users.

Table of Contents

How is Malicious Activity defined?

Malicious activity is defined as any actions taken on the internet that are committed with the intention to be actively damaging to other internet users or businesses that operate online. This is different from suspicious activities like abnormal amounts of requests or proxy usage. Malicious activities have a clearly ill-natured intention and purpose. These types of activities can range in sophistication, and new types of malicious activities are being discovered by cybersecurity experts each day.

Is this the same as bot activity?

The short answer to this question is: sometimes. Malicious activity can be committed by bots but it can also be committed by humans. For example, an automation tool on its own is not “good” or “bad” inherently. But if it is specifically designed to carry out harmful tasks, then the actions it takes could be labeled as malicious activity. Similarly, not all human activities on the internet are done with malice, but some are, and those would also be considered malicious activity. The label of malicious activity can be given to both humans and non-humans – it relates more to the type of actions they take part in online and the damage they ultimately cause. Because of this, it is important for businesses to protect not just themselves from bot traffic but from malicious human traffic as well.

What are the negative consequences of Malicious Activity?

When malicious activities occur on a given website, that business is at risk for several potential outcomes. One commonly known consequence of malicious activity is a data breach or leaked customer information. But the damage does not stop there. Malicious activities can also lead to drained advertising budgets, incorrectly optimized campaigns, fake leads engaging with website content, polluted sales funnels, skewed metrics, and more. Because of this, organizations can ultimately become unsustainable if malicious activities continue to occur.

What can businesses do about this?

The world of malicious activity can quickly become intimidating to businesses that don’t have an active plan to combat it. Fortunately, many organizations have seen the benefits of Go-to-Market Security solutions that protect much more than just the IT department and can help them proactively guard against both bots and malicious humans online.

Want to protect your sites and ads?Click here to Request a Demo

What is Malicious Activity- Is it the same as bot activity? (2)

Author

Kerry Coppinger

Senior Manager, Brand Marketing

As head of the brand marketing department at CHEQ, Kerry manages all things content and brand including: research reports, public relations, content marketing, copywriting, press, and other editorial features. Prior to her work at CHEQ, Kerry worked for several tech companies in New York.

What is Malicious Activity- Is it the same as bot activity? (2024)

FAQs

What is Malicious Activity- Is it the same as bot activity? ›

Also known as malware bots, malicious bots perform activities that create security risks for organizations. For example, they might disrupt operations, create unfair disadvantages, send out unwanted emails, or attempt unauthorized access to sensitive data.

What does malicious activity mean? ›

Malicious Activity - intentionally, recklessly or negligently damaging any system (e.g., by the introduction of any so-called "virus", "worm", or "trojan-horse" program); damaging or violating the privacy of information not belonging to the user; or misusing or allowing misuse of system resources.

What is a bot in cyber security? ›

A bot, short for "robot", is a type of software application or script that performs automated tasks on command. Bad bots perform malicious tasks that allow an attacker to remotely take control over an affected computer.

What is the difference between suspicious and malicious? ›

Malicious activity is defined as any actions taken on the internet that are committed with the intention to be actively damaging to other internet users or businesses that operate online. This is different from suspicious activities like abnormal amounts of requests or proxy usage.

What is an automated bot attack? ›

A bot attack is a type of cyber attack that uses automated scripts to disrupt a site, steal data, make fraudulent purchases, or perform other malicious actions. These attacks can be deployed against many different targets, such as websites, servers, APIs, and other endpoints.

How do you detect malicious activity? ›

Detecting malicious network activity involves various methods such as intrusion detection systems (IDS), intrusion prevention systems (IPS), and security information and event management (SIEM) tools. These solutions analyze network traffic, monitor for anomalies, and compare patterns against known attack signatures.

What is a malicious activity on the internet? ›

A cyberattack – also known as a cybersecurity attack – is any form of malicious activity targeting IT systems and/or the attackers or threat actors using them to gain unauthorized access to systems and data they contain.

Is a bot malicious? ›

Bots – meaning & definition

They carry out useful functions, such as customer service or indexing search engines, but they can also come in the form of malware – used to gain total control over a computer. Internet bots can also be referred to as spiders, crawlers, or web bots.

What is a bot activity? ›

Bot activity in email is typically security software sitting in front of a recipient's (or contact's) inbox. That security software will open the email and, typically, engage with some (if not all) of the corresponding links in that email, following them through the redirect.

What are bot activities? ›

Bots often imitate or replace a human user's behavior. Typically they do repetitive tasks, and they can do them much faster than human users could.

What is malicious also called? ›

Malware is a catch-all term for various malicious software, including viruses, adware, spyware, browser hijacking software, and fake security software.

What are you if you are malicious? ›

Someone who is malicious enjoys hurting or embarrassing others. If you're writing a book about good and evil, you'll want to come up with a truly malicious character to do all the bad stuff. Malicious is the adjective based on the noun malice, which means the desire to harm others.

What does malicious code look like? ›

It looks like a normal code you would have seen . But nearly always virus designers obfuscate their code sometimes to change the code's signature so that virus remains undetected for some time before being quarantined/deleted by an antivirus .

How do I stop a bot? ›

  1. Block or CAPTCHA outdated user agents/browsers. ...
  2. Block known hosting providers and proxy services. ...
  3. Protect all bad bot access points. ...
  4. Evaluate traffic sources. ...
  5. Investigate traffic spikes. ...
  6. Monitor failed login attempts. ...
  7. Invest in a bot protection solution for mobile.
Oct 30, 2023

Are bot attacks illegal? ›

Criminal conduct

Operating a botnet is illegal, and in many cases, punishable as a felony. Once compromised, the owners of these computers are put at risk. Criminals have the ability to access personal information stored on the computer and communications made with the computer.

What is an example of a malicious behavior? ›

Examples of malicious behaviour include but are not limited to, sabotaging someone's work/friendships/relationships, unfairly punishing someone, bullying, trying to get a rise out of someone, malicious gossip & continuing to do things that somebody has told you upset or annoy them.

What is an example of being malicious? ›

But while malevolent suggests deep and lasting dislike, malicious usually means petty and spiteful. Malicious gossipers are often simply envious of a neighbor's good fortune. Vandals may take malicious pleasure in destroying and defacing property but usually don't truly hate the owners.

What does malicious behavior mean? ›

adjective. If you describe someone's words or actions as malicious, you mean that they are intended to harm people or their reputation, or cause them embarrassment and upset. That might merely have been malicious gossip. Synonyms: spiteful, malevolent, malignant, vicious More Synonyms of malicious. maliciously adverb.

What is an example of a malicious threat? ›

Malicious insider threat examples

Some common insider threat examples are: A recently fired employee selling sensitive information to a competitor. A disgruntled employee exposing trade secrets to the public. An employee that deletes important records and information to breach compliance regulation.

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