In the vast universe of technology, protecting digital content from malicious attacks has become a priority for companies. Akamai Technologies, Inc., the leading cloud services company that powers and protects online life, has announced today the launch of Content Protector. This product represents the first approach specifically designed to address the unique characteristics of scraping attacks, without blocking legitimate traffic that is crucial for business growth.
The Challenge of Scraper Bots
Scraper bots, while playing a critical and often productive role in the online commerce ecosystem by searching for new content and sharing updated product information with customers, have also been used for harmful purposes. From unfair competition, inventory hoarding pre-attack monitoring, to counterfeit goods and websites, scraper bots can significantly degrade website performance and affect the user experience. Additionally, the sophistication and evasion of these bots have increased considerably in recent years.
How Content Protector Works
Akamai’s Content Protector stands out for its ability to detect and mitigate evasive scrapers that steal content for malicious purposes. This product improves site performance, user experience, and protects intellectual property by providing significantly more accurate detections, reducing false negatives without increasing the false positive rate. It is designed for companies that need to protect their reputation and revenue potential by offering customized detections through:
Protocol-level assessment: Verifies how visitors connect to the site, ensuring their legitimacy.
Application-level assessment: Evaluates if the client can execute JavaScript-authored business logic, collecting device characteristics and user preferences.
User interaction: Distinguishes between human traffic and bot traffic by analyzing how users interact with devices such as touchscreens, keyboards, and mice.
User behavior: Monitors visitor behavior on the website to identify unusual patterns indicative of bots.
Risk classification: Provides a low, medium, or high-risk classification based on anomalies found during the assessment.
Rupesh Chokshi, SVP and GM of Application Security at Akamai, emphasized: “Content Protector is more than a security tool; it is a business enabler. By protecting your digital assets from scraping threats, it prevents competition from undercutting your offerings, improves site performance to keep customers engaged, and protects your brand from counterfeiters. Content Protector provides direct business value to grow your digital business with confidence.”
About Akamai
Akamai powers and protects online life. The world’s leading companies choose Akamai to build, deliver, and secure their digital experiences, helping billions of people to live, work, and play every day. Akamai Connected Cloud, a massively distributed edge and cloud platform, brings applications and experiences closer to users while keeping threats at bay.
This launch marks a significant milestone not only for Akamai but for the digital world as a whole, promoting a safer and more efficient online environment for businesses and users alike. With Content Protector, Akamai reaffirms its position as a leader in cloud and security solutions, now offering a fundamental tool against one of the most persistent threats in the information age: malicious scraping.