Online directory service Yell is investing in tracking
technology to protect its online database from theft by criminal
groups and rival businesses.
The company faces regular attacks from individuals, groups and
businesses which use database "scraping" software. The software is
capable of copying 100,000 items an hour in an attempt to steal
Yell's proprietary data, the company will tell the E-Crime Congress
today.
Eddie Cheng, e-business director at Yell, said the company had
installed sophisticated tracking software to spot suspicious
transactions and was continually updating it in an attempt to stay
one step ahead of the criminals.
One technique used by Yell is to seed the data with false companies
created using real addresses and phone numbers. If the fake
businesses begin to receive junk mail, it is an indication the
database has been copied, said Cheng.
Yell has also deployed pattern recognition technology to spot
website users who appear to be harvesting data. "Like all
databases, we log usage. We know how many searches come from a
particular IP address and the pattern of the search. A normal
person might check their local pharmacy, but they will not be
interested in contacting all the pharmacies in the South East,"
said Cheng.
Other indicators are enquiries made from overseas or at unusual
times of the day, Cheng said.
Yell began to take countermeasures three years ago after noticing
that one or two heavy users were accounting for a large proportion
of the transactions on the website.
Some of the attacks are by amateurs, who, for example, use Yell to
send out fundraising letters without realising they are breaching
copyright. Others appear to be perpetrated by businesses. Yell said
it had no choice but to prosecute some offenders.
"Any business in this area is likely to need some sort of
protection. If they have not got it, they are likely to be in
trouble," Cheng said.