How Bot Attacks Damage Brand Reputation

A strong reputation is vital for business success, influencing customer loyalty and spending decisions. When a brand’s reputation is damaged, customers often turn to competitors, which can reduce key metrics like lifetime customer value.
Trust is central to a brand’s reputation. Customers expect their personal data to be secure, pricing to be fair, and services to be reliable. However, bot attacks undermine this trust. Without adequate responses to such threats, customers may feel unsafe, leading to negative perceptions of the business and decreased loyalty.
The Impact of Bot Attacks on Customer Satisfaction
Bot attacks frequently harm customer experience, leading to dissatisfaction. According to Netacea’s research, bot attacks like sniping, fake account creation, and scalping have significant effects on customer sentiment. In our survey of over 400 enterprise businesses, we uncovered:
- 91% of businesses with a turnover of $5bn or more say sniping attacks cause a greater than 10% drop in customer satisfaction.
- 80% say fake account creation has caused a drop in customer satisfaction.
- Of the nearly 1 in 3 (29%) online businesses hit by scalper bots, 93% noted an impact on customer satisfaction.
How Bot Attacks Damage Public Perception
Public perception of a brand is often shaped by how it handles security threats. Bot attacks are no exception, as they can lead to both direct harm to customers and negative media coverage.
Media Amplification of Bot Attacks
Some bot attacks are so damaging that reports of them spread in the media. This is most common with credential stuffing as the perpetrators usually leak personal information online.
Newsworthy examples of credential stuffing attacks include:
DraftKings: In November 2022, a credential stuffing attack led to unauthorized access of customer accounts, resulting in approximately $300,000 being stolen.
23andMe: In December 2023, a credential stuffing attack compromised user accounts, leading to the exposure of millions of genetic profiles and personal information.
Snowflake: In June 2024, attackers accessed data from at least 165 organizations by exploiting compromised credentials.
Roku: In April 2024, a credential stuffing attack affected approximately 576,000 accounts, with unauthorized purchases made in less than 400 cases.
Direct Harm to Customers
Bot attacks often lead to tangible negative outcomes for customers, such as account takeovers or fraudulent transactions. Credential stuffing, for example, can result in stolen loyalty points and unauthorized purchases. Although weak passwords are a key enabler, customers tend to blame the targeted business for not having sufficient safeguards in place, and in truth there’s no excuse for brands to not employ protection against credential stuffing.
Similarly, carding attacks – where bots use stolen payment details to make small test transactions – can inconvenience customers through account freezes and financial loss. Even when resolved, these issues can leave customers feeling frustrated and mistrustful of the business.
The Indirect Impact of Scalping and Inventory Abuse
Bot attacks like scalping affect public perception by creating unfair purchasing conditions. Scalpers use bots to buy up high-demand products or tickets, leaving regular customers empty-handed. This forces customers to secondary markets, where prices are often much higher, leading to resentment toward the retailer.
In ticketing, notable examples include the Taylor Swift Eras Tour and the Oasis reunion, both of which faced widespread scalping (check out our research and analysis of the Oasis ticket sale here).
In retail, limited-edition product launches are frequently targeted, frustrating customers who feel they were denied a fair chance to purchase. The perception that businesses are not doing enough to prevent these attacks further damages their reputations.
At Netacea we closely follow the BLADE Framework to monitor bot attacks before they become a risk to their targets. For example, we combat scalping by detecting and blocking suspicious activity during the reconnaissance and checkout stages of an attack. By monitoring web scraping traffic and analyzing purchasing patterns, we help businesses protect their inventory and maintain fairness for customers.
How to Protect Your Brand from Bot Damage
Preventing bot attacks requires a proactive approach that combines technical defenses and customer-focused strategies. Effective measures include implementing advanced bot management systems like Netacea to detect and block malicious activity in real-time. Businesses can also improve login security with tools like unphishable multi-factor authentication (MFA) and passwordless solutions such as biometrics or one-time codes.
For instance, Netacea’s solutions not only block bot activity but also ensure smooth customer experiences by safeguarding high-value processes like logins, checkouts, and product launches. This protects customers’ data and transactions while preventing bot attacks from impacting their experience.
Businesses can also restore trust after an incident by transparently addressing the issue and outlining the steps taken to prevent future occurrences. Customers are more likely to remain loyal when they see a brand actively working to protect them.
Conclusion
Bot attacks are a growing threat to brand reputation, with effects that range from customer dissatisfaction to negative public perception. By disrupting customer experiences, exposing sensitive data, and making it harder for legitimate shoppers to access products, these attacks erode trust and loyalty.
However, businesses can mitigate these risks by partnering with experts like Netacea. With advanced bot protection solutions, Netacea helps businesses detect and prevent malicious activity, protecting both their reputation and their customers.