Imperva Case Studies e-Travel's Battle Against Web Scraping: A Case Study

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	e-Travel's Battle Against Web Scraping: A Case Study Imperva

e-Travel's Battle Against Web Scraping: A Case Study

Imperva

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Applicable Industries	Aerospace E-Commerce
Use Cases	Chatbots Inventory Management
Challenge	e-Travel, a leading e-commerce travel specialist, was facing a significant challenge with web scraping bots. These bots, deployed by competitors and new entrants in the travel industry, were stealing e-Travel's data, including pricing information, and selling it to other competitors or auctioning it. This data theft was not only compromising the integrity of e-Travel's data but also straining its team and technical resources. The bots were scraping the sites so frequently that it was affecting the company's service quality. The company had to deploy additional resources to meet the bot demand, which was proving to be expensive. Additionally, the bots were skewing the company's look-to-book ratios and inflating advertising and GDS pull costs. The company's homegrown solution, 'Bot Hammer', was unable to keep up with the bots, and the bot problem persisted. In 2017, the company also faced a few denial of service attacks, adding to its operational challenges. Read More
About Customer	e-Travel is a top 10 online travel agency specializing in airline tickets. It is one of the most successful startups in Greece, having been launched in 2007 in Athens. The company operates 11 websites, which are translated into 42 languages, and serves over 1.5 million travelers annually from 60 countries. Despite its success, e-Travel was facing significant challenges with web scraping bots, which were stealing its data and straining its resources. Read More
Solution	e-Travel turned to Imperva Bot Management to tackle its bot problem. Imperva Bot Management, a specialist solution, appealed to e-Travel because it leverages the collective experience of numerous clients. The solution was integrated with e-Travel's existing ELK stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana), HAProxy as the load balancer, and AWS. The integration was smooth and quick, and e-Travel found it to be one of the quickest integrations it had experienced. Imperva Bot Management helped e-Travel block fraudulent clicks, thereby saving money. The Imperva team worked closely with e-Travel to communicate the ROI of the solution to the upper management. The company also appreciated Imperva's customer support, which was responsive and knowledgeable. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Applicable Industries

Aerospace

E-Commerce

Use Cases

Chatbots

Inventory Management

Challenge

e-Travel, a leading e-commerce travel specialist, was facing a significant challenge with web scraping bots. These bots, deployed by competitors and new entrants in the travel industry, were stealing e-Travel's data, including pricing information, and selling it to other competitors or auctioning it. This data theft was not only compromising the integrity of e-Travel's data but also straining its team and technical resources. The bots were scraping the sites so frequently that it was affecting the company's service quality. The company had to deploy additional resources to meet the bot demand, which was proving to be expensive. Additionally, the bots were skewing the company's look-to-book ratios and inflating advertising and GDS pull costs. The company's homegrown solution, 'Bot Hammer', was unable to keep up with the bots, and the bot problem persisted. In 2017, the company also faced a few denial of service attacks, adding to its operational challenges.

About Customer

e-Travel is a top 10 online travel agency specializing in airline tickets. It is one of the most successful startups in Greece, having been launched in 2007 in Athens. The company operates 11 websites, which are translated into 42 languages, and serves over 1.5 million travelers annually from 60 countries. Despite its success, e-Travel was facing significant challenges with web scraping bots, which were stealing its data and straining its resources.

Solution

e-Travel turned to Imperva Bot Management to tackle its bot problem. Imperva Bot Management, a specialist solution, appealed to e-Travel because it leverages the collective experience of numerous clients. The solution was integrated with e-Travel's existing ELK stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana), HAProxy as the load balancer, and AWS. The integration was smooth and quick, and e-Travel found it to be one of the quickest integrations it had experienced. Imperva Bot Management helped e-Travel block fraudulent clicks, thereby saving money. The Imperva team worked closely with e-Travel to communicate the ROI of the solution to the upper management. The company also appreciated Imperva's customer support, which was responsive and knowledgeable.

Impact #1	The implementation of Imperva Bot Management brought about significant operational improvements for e-Travel. The solution effectively blocked web scraping bots, thereby protecting the company's data and maintaining the integrity of its affiliate relationships. It also reduced the strain on the company's team and technical resources, allowing them to focus on serving legitimate customers. The solution's easy integration with e-Travel's existing systems minimized disruption and ensured a smooth transition. Furthermore, the company appreciated the responsive and knowledgeable customer support provided by Imperva, which was always available to answer questions and provide assistance.

Impact #1

The implementation of Imperva Bot Management brought about significant operational improvements for e-Travel. The solution effectively blocked web scraping bots, thereby protecting the company's data and maintaining the integrity of its affiliate relationships. It also reduced the strain on the company's team and technical resources, allowing them to focus on serving legitimate customers. The solution's easy integration with e-Travel's existing systems minimized disruption and ensured a smooth transition. Furthermore, the company appreciated the responsive and knowledgeable customer support provided by Imperva, which was always available to answer questions and provide assistance.

Benefit #1	Quick and smooth integration with existing systems, resulting in minimal disruption
Benefit #2	Significant reduction in fraudulent clicks, leading to cost savings
Benefit #3	Effective blocking of web scraping bots, protecting valuable data

Benefit #1

Quick and smooth integration with existing systems, resulting in minimal disruption

Benefit #2

Significant reduction in fraudulent clicks, leading to cost savings

Benefit #3

Effective blocking of web scraping bots, protecting valuable data

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Overview

e-Travel's Battle Against Web Scraping: A Case Study

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit