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As a word, the bot originates colloquially from a software robot that main purpose is to engage a human interaction with a user by using automatization. Not all bots are malicious since they have been taken advantage of in a firm’s customer chat services and even authorities can use them as an early warning procedure to notify environmental catastrophes. The bots enable to curb political hate Another example where officials use the help of bots regard to curbing hate-speech or terrorist propaganda. Bots useemploy, among other things, artificial intelligence, big data and breadth taking data bases extensive databases to mimic a regular user.

What information security threats social media bots entail?

The increased popularity of social media has resulted in that social media bots have become more broadly known. In the most harmful situations, bots distribute fake news or fake hoax information in which case they can be used intentionally to shape the public moods of the society. Besides, the bots can be part of the wider botnet in a denial-of-service attack to overburden and paralyse database or an information system. Unpatched networks, network vulnerabilities, zero-day vulnerabilities, weak password management, malicious web-pages, social engineering as well as insufficient information security practices can lead to bot infections. For instance, the shortened URL-links can take a user to inappropriate web pages that might include phishing of the personal data or a downloading malware. Hence, bots are sold in markets so that the bots behave according to a bot master who refers to a human person whose intentions the bots serve. The most conveniently, a user may buy ghost followers to boost the followers of the user account.   

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