American data privacy and cybersecurity solutions specialist Imperva Incorporated has reportedly announced that online sportsbooks in the United Kingdom recorded an up to a three-fold increase in ‘bot’-related traffic in the run-up to England matches during the recent UEFA European Football Championship.

According to a Monday report from the news portal at PaymentExport.com, the Californian provider detailed that this rise highlighted the security and account takeover threats faced by online sportsbetting firms serving the British market. The firm purportedly also explained that ‘bots’, which are software applications executing automatic tasks over the Internet, are often utilized by cyber-criminals in order to gain illegal access to bettors’ accounts.

Undesirable attraction:

San Mateo-headquartered Imperva Incorporated reportedly pronounced that UEFA European Football Championship match-days when the England team took to the pitch were particularly risky with its own research showing a significant swell in ‘account takeover attacks’. It stated that these times saw online bettors increasingly confronted by ‘bots’ who attempted to dupe them into revealing personal data for later use by criminals.

Crucial consequences:

PaymentExport.com reported that these details could eventually be illicitly utilized to crack sportsbetting aficionados’ online accounts or digital wallets for the subsequent loss of privacy and cash. The source went on to divulge that this pattern for the delayed UEFA European Football Championship, which was colloquially known as ‘Euro 2020’, mirrors similar activity it revealed earlier in the year impacting industries such as e-commerce and healthcare.

Top target:

Edward Roberts serves as Strategy, Application Security Director for Imperva Incorporated and he reportedly furthermore disclosed that ‘bot’ traffic during the UEFA European Football Championship for German punters spiked by as much as 41% in the week following that nation’s defeat of Portugal and before its June 23 game against Hungary. He moreover asserted that the number of overall attacks grew again as the quadrennial tournament entered its Round of 16 stage from June 26.

Reportedly read a statement from Roberts…

“Euro 2020 is the first major international tournament where, thanks to coronavirus, typical revenue sources such as ticket scalping have disappeared. As a result, ‘bot’ operators have re-engineered their tactics to target the rest of us watching at home instead. With so many people loading up their accounts with hefty sums, gaining access is an easy money source for criminals, especially VIP customers who tend to stake huge wagers.”

Subsequent signal:

Roberts reportedly went on to state that ‘bot’ activity last year had accounted for more than a quarter of all web traffic, which was a record, while human interactions on websites declined by 5.7%. He purportedly finished by proclaiming that this worrying trend ‘shows an advanced and concerted campaign to trick consumers and damage businesses,’ which is only likely to continue apace in the run-up to the similarly-delayed 2020 Summer Olympics.