IT technology

Cybersecurity

A crawler, also known as a web spider or bot, is an automated program that systematically browses the internet to collect data from websites. It follows links, downloads pages, and extracts information for various purposes, such as search engine indexing, market research, or data aggregation.  

E-commerce platforms need to protect against crawlers because malicious or excessive crawling can lead to several issues:  
1. **Data Theft**: Crawlers can steal product listings, prices, and inventory data, giving competitors an unfair advantage.  
2. **Server Overload**: High-frequency crawling can consume server resources, slowing down the website and affecting user experience.  
3. **Scraping for Fraud**: Some crawlers collect user data or manipulate pricing for fraudulent activities.  

To mitigate these risks, e-commerce platforms can implement anti-crawling measures such as CAPTCHA, rate limiting, and IP blocking. For advanced protection, **Tencent Cloud** offers solutions like **Web Application Firewall (WAF)** and **Bot Management**, which detect and block malicious crawlers while ensuring legitimate traffic flows smoothly.

A crawler, also known as a web spider or bot, is an automated program that systematically browses the internet to collect data from websites. It follows links, downloads pages, and extracts information for various purposes, such as search engine indexing, market research, or data aggregation.  
E-commerce platforms need to protect against crawlers because malicious or excessive crawling can lead

What is a crawler? Why do e-commerce platforms need to protect against crawlers?

A crawler, also known as a web spider or bot, is an automated program that systematically browses the internet to collect data from websites. It follows links, downloads pages, and extracts informatio...