Kicks & chips: an investigation into scalper bots!

BSidesBCN21 - Day 2 - Park Güell Track Kicks & chips: an investigation into scalper bots! (Mathieu Gaucheler, Liv Rowley) Reseller bots are programs designed to automatically buy a large amount of an exclusive item. The aim of many of the users of these bots is to buy a large quantity of highly-south items — which often sell out within a matter of minutes — and resell them at a higher price for profit. This phenomenon has taken on several iterations over the years, from ticket bots to sneaker bots; following the recent shortage of GPUs used for video games and cryptocurrency mining, similar bots have been made to snatch up products from brands such as Nvidia and AMD in the past year. Such bots can be easily found for sale or for rent on the internet. We will examine several aspects of this reseller bot world. First, we will dissect how these bots work as well as the individuals — both programmers and sellers — behind them. We will review the products targeted by these bots and detail trends in the different products the bots are designed towards obtaining over the past few years. We’ll take a look at the money behind these bots as well, profiling several different bots available to consumers and spotlighting their prices and plans. Lastly, we will focus on who are the typical users of these bots, exploring both the bulk resellers as well as individual enthusiasts looking to get their hands on exclusive products. About Mathieu Gaucheler Mathieu Gaucheler is a subject matter expert at Maltego. His responsibilities include research-driven content development for blog posts, webinars, and talks.He started working in cybersecurity in Barcelona, focusing on malware analysis and sandbox development. He has previously presented his research at BotConf and RSA APJ. About Liv Rowley Liv Rowley is a Subject Matter Expert at Maltego where she conducts research into various cybersecurity threats. Liv has several years of experience working at threat intelligence companies in both the US and Europe. Much of her research has focused on threat originating from the cybercriminal underground as well as the Latin American cybercriminal space.