Bot signals · Web crawler
What is Sansec Security Monitor?
Sansec Security Monitor is a web crawler designed to improve ecommerce security. Sansec says it has checked about 400 thousand online stores daily since 2015, alerting merchants to malicious code such as digital skimmers on their sites.
01 · Profile
Sansec Security Monitor at a glance.
What to look for in your logs, and what the lookup API returns for its addresses.
- Type
- Web crawler
- User agent
Sansec Security Monitor- robots.txt
User-agent: Sansec Security Monitor- API flag
risk.is_crawler
A user agent alone never sets a flag. Anyone can claim to be Sansec Security Monitor; the flag follows the address the request comes from.
02 · In the response
What a match looks like.
A lookup of a Sansec Security Monitor address sets risk.is_crawler. The flags come with geolocation and network data in the same response, for API keys on every paid plan.
The response says which kind of bot an address belongs to, not which operator. A request that claims to be Sansec Security Monitor while risk.is_crawler is false should not be trusted as Sansec Security Monitor.
{
// … location and network fields …
"risk": {
"is_ai": false,
"is_crawler": true,
"is_scanner": false
}
}
03 · Control
Allow or block Sansec Security Monitor.
User-agent: Sansec Security Monitor Disallow: /
To enforce it
- robots.txt is a request. Well-behaved bots follow it; impostors using its name don’t.
- Firewall, WAF or CDN. Many offer bot rules you can allow or deny by category. Use them to enforce what robots.txt only asks for.
- In your app. Look up the client address and allow or deny on
risk.is_crawler, alongside the user agent. - Never on the user agent alone. Blocking the name stops only honest clients; allowing it lets anyone in who borrows it.
04 · Questions
About Sansec Security Monitor.
What is Sansec Security Monitor?
Sansec Security Monitor is a web crawler designed to improve ecommerce security. Sansec says it has checked about 400 thousand online stores daily since 2015, alerting merchants to malicious code such as digital skimmers on their sites.
How do I block Sansec Security Monitor?
Add a robots.txt rule for Sansec Security Monitor. Sansec says its monitor obeys robots.txt, including a Crawl-delay of up to 30 seconds. To enforce a block rather than request one, deny it at your firewall, WAF or CDN.
Can I trust a request that says it is Sansec Security Monitor?
Not on the user agent alone: any client can send “Sansec Security Monitor” in its user agent. A user agent alone never sets a flag. Check the address with the free bot checker or the lookup API.
Which risk flag does Sansec Security Monitor set?
Its addresses set risk.is_crawler in the lookup response. The risk flags come with every paid plan.
From the blog
Go deeper.
Related bots
Recognise Sansec Security Monitor on every request.
is_ai, is_crawler and is_scanner in every lookup, on every paid plan, from 9,00 € a month (VAT included).