Imperva’s research reveals a long-running, highly sophisticated SEO botnet campaign that has been active since 2015. Unlike earlier botnets that relied on a single exploit, this one uses multiple automated attack vectors—HTML link injection, SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and comment spam—to boost search rankings for illicit websites. With over 700 botnet hosts generating 800,000+ HTTP requests, attacks occur every 12 hours. The campaign’s scale and automation highlight the growing threat of botnet-driven SEO abuse, underscoring the need for strong defenses like web application firewalls to detect and block these multi-vector exploits.

Join for free to read