AffAction Fights Back Against Sophisticated Scrapers with DataDome and Wins
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<br><section is="bubble-deprecated-dualcontent" class=" overflow-hidden pt-8 pb-8 "> <div class=" not__containerized "> <!-- Section 1 --><div class="code-block code-block-13" style="margin: 8px 0; clear: both;"> <style> .ai-rotate {position: relative;} .ai-rotate-hidden {visibility: hidden;} .ai-rotate-hidden-2 {position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;} .ai-list-data, .ai-ip-data, .ai-filter-check, .ai-fallback, .ai-list-block, .ai-list-block-ip, .ai-list-block-filter {visibility: hidden; position: absolute; width: 50%; height: 1px; top: -1000px; z-index: -9999; margin: 0px!important;} .ai-list-data, .ai-ip-data, .ai-filter-check, .ai-fallback {min-width: 1px;} </style> <div class="ai-rotate ai-unprocessed ai-timed-rotation ai-13-1" data-info="WyIxMy0xIiwxXQ==" style="position: relative;"> <div class="ai-rotate-option" style="visibility: hidden;" data-index="1" data-name="U2hvcnQ=" data-time="MTA="> <div class="custom-ad"> <div style="margin: auto; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.techstrongevents.com/cruisecon-virtual-west-2025/home?ref=in-article-ad-2&utm_source=sb&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=in-article-ad-2" target="_blank"><img src="https://securityboulevard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Banner-770x330-social-1.png" alt="Cruise Con 2025"></a></div> <div class="clear-custom-ad"></div> </div></div> </div> </div> <section class="component"> <div class="relative flex flex-col lg:flex-row-reverse items-center justify-center mx-auto w-full"> <div class="container relative z-20 flex flex-col w-full mb-6 text-2xl text-gray-700 lg:w-1/2 sm:items-center lg:items-start lg:mb-0"> <div class="content"> <p><a href="https://www.affaction.com/" rel="noopener nofollow">AffAction</a>, an online marketing company managing over 6,000 domains, used to struggle with persistent scraping bots targeting user data. These bad bots would overload systems to the point of mimicking DDoS attacks, pushing the company’s internal resources to their limits. After trying to manage the problem internally, AffAction turned to DataDome to regain control. Today, bot-related disruptions have dropped significantly, infrastructure is more stable, and the CTO has regained valuable time for strategic work.</p> </div> </div> <div class="relative w-full rounded-lg md:w-3/4 lg:w-1/2 group"> <div class="relative overflow-hidden image-datadome-rounded group"><br> <a href="https://www.affaction.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> <picture class=""><source srcset="https://datadome.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AffAction-homepage-scaled.webp 2560w, https://datadome.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AffAction-homepage-300x134.webp 300w, https://datadome.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AffAction-homepage-1024x458.webp 1024w, https://datadome.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AffAction-homepage-768x344.webp 768w, https://datadome.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AffAction-homepage-1536x687.webp 1536w, https://datadome.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AffAction-homepage-2048x917.webp 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 600px, (max-width: 768px) 600px, 600px" type="image/webp"><br> <img loading="lazy" src="https://datadome.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AffAction-homepage-scaled.png" data-src="https://datadome.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AffAction-homepage-scaled.png" alt="DataDome" srcset="https://datadome.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AffAction-homepage-scaled.png 2560w, https://datadome.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AffAction-homepage-300x134.png 300w, https://datadome.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AffAction-homepage-1024x458.png 1024w, https://datadome.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AffAction-homepage-768x344.png 768w, https://datadome.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AffAction-homepage-1536x687.png 1536w, https://datadome.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AffAction-homepage-2048x917.png 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 400px) 600px, (max-width: 768px) 600px, 600px" decoding="async" class="z-10 object-cover w-full h-full " width="2560" height="1146" data-sal="fade" data-sal-delay="150" data-sal-duration="800" data-sal-easing="ease-out-quint" data- title="AffAction Fights Back Against Sophisticated Scrapers with DataDome and Wins"> </source></picture> </a> </div> </div> </div> </section></div> </section><section is="bubble-deprecated-quote" class=" overflow-hidden pt-8 pb-8 "> <div class=" not__containerized "> <div class="component"> <div class="top__svg"> <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="83" height="105" viewbox="0 0 83 105" fill="none"> <path d="M76.7819 66.1583C75.1983 63.8196 73.6781 62.3026 72.9813 61.6073C71.5139 60.1324 62.6564 54.6649 55.6782 44.4778C54.0735 42.1285 52.1521 39.3263 50.8114 35.6602C50.5369 34.9122 49.7451 33.5005 49.2278 30.8669C48.7738 28.7599 47.7604 24.999 47.0847 23.0185C43.7487 13.2211 34.4162 7.17417 27.4168 4.07694C18.211 -0.0105486 3.04016e-06 0.0105246 3.04016e-06 0.0105246L83 -7.62939e-06L83 105C83 93.3802 82.3349 79.7798 80.8463 74.9443C79.2733 69.835 76.7819 66.1689 76.7819 66.1689L76.7819 66.1583Z" fill="white"></path> </svg> </div> <div class="quote"> “DataDome increases the reliability of our infrastructure and reduces the amount of time I work on analyzing bad traffic and solving problems. The scraping attacks have lessened even though their level of sophistication has increased.” </div> <div class="author"> <div class="author_name">Matthew Kolb</div> <div class="author_situation">CTO at AffAction</div> </div> </div> </div> </section><div is="fusion-wysiwyg" class=" normal__dots "> <div class="component"> <div class="content"> <h2>The challenge: When managing scraping bots becomes a full-time job</h2> <p>At AffAction, growth has led to rapid expansion, with a dozen sites, one of which has more than 6,000 domains. <em>“We saw malicious bots generating more connections than real users,”</em> recalls Matthew Kolb, Chief Technology Officer at AffAction. This small-scale <a href="https://datadome.co/solutions/web-scraping-content-theft/" rel="noopener">scraping</a> quickly intensified. Attackers evolved, relying on increasingly powerful automation and artificial intelligence.</p> <p><em>“At times, it came close to a <a href="https://datadome.co/solutions/layer-7-ddos/" rel="noopener">distributed denial-of-service attack</a>,” </em>Matthew explains. At first, he was able to manually block suspicious IP addresses, but the attacks escalated faster than internal defenses could keep up. Managing bots became a time-consuming part of the job:<em> “After a while, I felt like I was reinventing the wheel. I thought ‘I don’t need to build out defenses from scratch, there’s got to be a better way’. So we started looking for other solutions,” </em>says Matthew.</p> </div> </div> </div><div is="fusion-wysiwyg" class=" normal__dots "> <div class="component"> <div class="content"> <h2>The solution: Real-time protection that learns and adapts</h2> <p>Around that time, <a href="https://datadome.co/resources/forrester-wave-bot-management/" rel="noopener">the Forrester Wave report on Bot Management software</a> introduced AffAction to DataDome, naming it a leader for its real-time detection and scalable protection. <em>“That was pretty influential in the decision,”</em> Matthew recalls.</p> <p>He selected <a href="https://datadome.co/products/bot-protection/" rel="noopener">DataDome Bot Protect</a>, deploying it across virtually their entire infrastructure. Even though the attackers were highly motivated and deeply persistent, <a href="https://datadome.co/ai-detection-engine/" rel="noopener">the platform’s AI models</a> adapted and learned, relieving AffActions from malicious scraping.</p> <p><em>“The attacks lessened, and that was a big relief,”</em> Matthew says, particularly as the team had been under pressure to maintain uptime while keeping user data safe.</p> <p>The company now relies primarily on DataDome’s automated protections, using a few custom rules, mostly to allow internal systems to bypass protections when needed. They also use the dashboard to fine-tune decisions around verified bots and large language models. <em>“We do block some <a href="https://datadome.co/solutions/ai-fraud/" rel="noopener">LLM scrapers</a>,”</em> Matthew adds. <em>“But others, like Google, are harder to avoid. Blocking them can have too much impact on traffic.”</em></p> <p><em> </em>As automated bot tactics continue to evolve, the platform adapts in real-time, keeping AffAction ahead of new attempts.</p> </div> </div> </div><div is="fusion-wysiwyg" class=" normal__dots "> <div class="component"> <div class="content"> <h2>The results: Sustained uptime & peace of mind for the tech team</h2> <p>With DataDome’s Cyberfraud Protection in place, AffAction saw a real difference. The constant pressure from scraping bots started to ease, and the infrastructure became noticeably more stable. <em>“It helps avoid downtime,”</em> says Matthew, who is relieved that he no longer has to worry about slowdowns. And the biggest win came from time regained: <em>“DataDome reduced the amount of time I spent analyzing traffic, so the goal was achieved,”</em> he explains.</p> <p>The platform also brought new visibility into threats Matthew hadn’t fully anticipated. <em>“There are more vulnerability scanners than I realized,”</em> he says. <em>“Even though we don’t run WordPress, we saw a lot of automated tools trying to find WordPress installations. It’s nice that DataDome blocks them.”</em></p> <p>Throughout the partnership, AffAction’s CTO has also appreciated the support experience. <em>“The team has been consistently responsive and collaborative,” </em>he notes.</p> <p>Today, DataDome protects more than 99% of AffAction’s traffic, providing the real-time adaptability needed to face a constantly evolving threat landscape.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Want to know where bots are hitting you hardest?<br> </strong>Start with a free <a href="https://datadome.co/signup/" rel="noopener">Vulnerability Scan</a> and stop bad bots before they do damage.</p> </div> </div> </div><div class="spu-placeholder" style="display:none"></div><div class="addtoany_share_save_container addtoany_content addtoany_content_bottom"><div class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_20 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="https://securityboulevard.com/2025/10/affaction-fights-back-against-sophisticated-scrapers-with-datadome-and-wins/" data-a2a-title="AffAction Fights Back Against Sophisticated Scrapers with DataDome and Wins"><a class="a2a_button_twitter" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/twitter?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2025%2F10%2Faffaction-fights-back-against-sophisticated-scrapers-with-datadome-and-wins%2F&linkname=AffAction%20Fights%20Back%20Against%20Sophisticated%20Scrapers%20with%20DataDome%20and%20Wins" title="Twitter" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_linkedin" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/linkedin?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2025%2F10%2Faffaction-fights-back-against-sophisticated-scrapers-with-datadome-and-wins%2F&linkname=AffAction%20Fights%20Back%20Against%20Sophisticated%20Scrapers%20with%20DataDome%20and%20Wins" title="LinkedIn" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2025%2F10%2Faffaction-fights-back-against-sophisticated-scrapers-with-datadome-and-wins%2F&linkname=AffAction%20Fights%20Back%20Against%20Sophisticated%20Scrapers%20with%20DataDome%20and%20Wins" title="Facebook" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_reddit" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/reddit?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2025%2F10%2Faffaction-fights-back-against-sophisticated-scrapers-with-datadome-and-wins%2F&linkname=AffAction%20Fights%20Back%20Against%20Sophisticated%20Scrapers%20with%20DataDome%20and%20Wins" title="Reddit" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_email" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/email?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2025%2F10%2Faffaction-fights-back-against-sophisticated-scrapers-with-datadome-and-wins%2F&linkname=AffAction%20Fights%20Back%20Against%20Sophisticated%20Scrapers%20with%20DataDome%20and%20Wins" title="Email" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share_save addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share"></a></div></div><p class="syndicated-attribution">*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from <a href="https://datadome.co">Blog – DataDome</a> authored by <a href="https://securityboulevard.com/author/0/" title="Read other posts by Paige Tester">Paige Tester</a>. Read the original post at: <a href="https://datadome.co/customers-stories/affaction-fights-back-against-sophisticated-scrapers-with-datadome-and-wins/">https://datadome.co/customers-stories/affaction-fights-back-against-sophisticated-scrapers-with-datadome-and-wins/</a> </p>