HoneySpam 2.0: profiling web spambot behaviour

Abstract

Internet bots have been widely used for various beneficial and malicious activities on the web. In this paper we provide new insights into a new kind of bot termed as web spambot which is primarily used for spreading spam content on the web. To gain insights into web spambots, we developed a tool (HoneySpam 2.0) to track their behaviour. This paper presents two main contributions, firstly it describes the design of HoneySpam 2.0 and secondly we outline the experimental results that characterise web spambot behaviour. By profiling web spambots, we provide the foundation for identifying such bots and preventing and filtering web spam content.