StubHub's Battle Against Bots: Protecting Content, Preventing Account Takeover, and Ensuring Accurate Conversion Rates
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Machine Learning
- Analytics & Modeling - Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Applicable Industries
- Education
- Equipment & Machinery
Applicable Functions
- Procurement
- Warehouse & Inventory Management
Use Cases
- Chatbots
- Traffic Monitoring
Services
- Cybersecurity Services
- Data Science Services
About The Customer
StubHub, an eBay company, is one of the world's largest ticket marketplaces. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, StubHub's mission is to help fans find fun. The platform enables fans to buy and sell tens of thousands of tickets whenever they want, through both desktop and mobile experiences, including apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Android. StubHub's accounts hold significant value due to the ease and speed of purchasing and selling tickets on its platform, making it a prime target for cyber thieves.
The Challenge
StubHub, a leading ticket marketplace, was facing a series of challenges due to the activities of malicious bots. These bots were scraping pricing and inventory data from StubHub's website, selling this proprietary information to competitors, and reposting it on other platforms. This not only led to StubHub's pricing being undercut but also resulted in the theft and misuse of customer accounts. The problem was further exacerbated by the availability of stolen login information and password reuse, which facilitated account takeovers leading to buyer and seller fraud. Additionally, StubHub's site was under constant attack from Advanced Persistent Bots (APBs) that could imitate human-like interactions and blend in with human traffic. These bots were causing a significant increase in site traffic, leading to skewed analytics and artificially low conversion rates.
The Solution
To combat these challenges, StubHub partnered with Imperva, a cybersecurity company. Imperva implemented a series of measures to protect StubHub's proprietary information and customer accounts. They proactively blocked persistent web scraping campaigns, thereby protecting pricing and inventory information and maintaining StubHub's competitive pricing advantage. To prevent account takeovers, Imperva prevented credential stuffing bots from accessing the site, which significantly lowered fraud and improved StubHub's brand reputation among customers. To tackle the issue of APBs, Imperva used advanced fingerprinting technology, behavioral analysis, and machine learning to distinguish between bot and human traffic. They also implemented dynamic access controls to further secure the site. To correct skewed conversion tracking, Imperva blocked 99.9% of bad bots, which lowered page view traffic by 50% and resulted in higher conversion rates and improved sales funnel reporting.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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