What is ReconWaveBot?

ReconWaveBot is a bot in the security scanners category, operated by Recon Wave.

Bot name
ReconWaveBot
Operator
Recon Wave
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
Not confirmed
robots.txt user agent
ReconWaveBot
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
No

About ReconWaveBot

ReconWave is an attack surface management pla

Security scanners probe sites for vulnerabilities, certificates and exposed services. Some are research projects, some are vendors you hired. Allow your own scanners and block the rest at the WAF.

ReconWaveBot user agent

ReconWaveBot identifies itself with this user agent string:

  • Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; ReconWaveBot; +https://reconwave.com/bot)

Anyone can copy a user agent string. Transfon Security also checks where each request comes from, so a request that claims to be a known crawler but comes from the wrong network is treated as a fake, not as the real crawler.

How to block ReconWaveBot in robots.txt

We have not confirmed whether ReconWaveBot follows robots.txt. Add a rule, then check your logs to see that it stopped. robots.txt is a plain text file at the root of your domain, such as https://example.com/robots.txt.

Block ReconWaveBot from the whole site

User-agent: ReconWaveBot
Disallow: /

Block ReconWaveBot from some folders

User-agent: ReconWaveBot
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /search

Allow ReconWaveBot only on some folders

User-agent: ReconWaveBot
Allow: /blog/
Disallow: /

Allow ReconWaveBot and block other crawlers

User-agent: ReconWaveBot
Allow: /

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

Things to know

  • Each host needs its own file. Rules on www.example.com do not apply to shop.example.com.
  • A crawler obeys only the most specific group that names it. Once you add a User-agent: ReconWaveBot group, ReconWaveBot ignores your User-agent: * rules, so repeat any that should still apply.
  • The user agent name is not case sensitive. We take ReconWaveBot from ReconWaveBot's user agent; check Recon Wave's own documentation if it publishes a different robots.txt name.
  • Crawlers cache robots.txt, so changes can take up to a day to apply. Disallow stops crawling but does not remove pages already collected or indexed.

Limits of robots.txt

  1. ReconWaveBot may not follow the rule. robots.txt is a request that nothing enforces, and we have not confirmed that ReconWaveBot follows it. Check your logs after adding a rule.
  2. The user agent could be fake. robots.txt matches the name a request claims. Anyone can send ReconWaveBot's user agent, and a scraper using it is not bound by Recon Wave's robots.txt policy. Only checking the source network tells a real ReconWaveBot from a fake one.

Treat robots.txt as a statement of your policy, and enforce it where requests arrive.

Who should care about ReconWaveBot

Publishers

Allow ReconWaveBot if it is a service you use, and keep its visits out of page views and ad requests either way.

Transfon Security for publishers

Media buyers and advertisers

ReconWaveBot is not a person. Exclude it from campaign and conversion data so reports reflect real visitors.

Transfon Security for advertisers

E-commerce

Allow ReconWaveBot only if it works for your store, and keep it away from cart and checkout.

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

If ReconWaveBot is a service you use, allow it on the endpoints it needs and block it elsewhere.

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block ReconWaveBot with Transfon Security

robots.txt is a request, not an enforcement. Transfon Security shows ReconWaveBot by name in the Top Bots report, so you can see how often it visits and which pages it reads. Block or allow it with a User Agent rule, or slow it down with a rate limit decision rule.

Transfon Security

Control ReconWaveBot on your site

  • See every ReconWaveBot visit and the pages it reads
  • Spot bots that fake trusted crawler names
  • Block, allow or rate limit ReconWaveBot with one rule
  • Works with or without robots.txt support

Frequently asked questions

What is ReconWaveBot?

ReconWaveBot is a bot in the security scanners category, operated by Recon Wave. ReconWave is an attack surface management pla

Does ReconWaveBot respect robots.txt?

We have not confirmed whether ReconWaveBot follows robots.txt. Add a robots.txt rule, then check your logs to see that it stopped, and block it by user agent if it did not.

How do I block ReconWaveBot?

Add "User-agent: ReconWaveBot" followed by "Disallow: /" to the robots.txt file at the root of your site. To enforce it, block requests whose user agent contains "ReconWaveBot" at your WAF. In Transfon Security that is one User Agent block rule.

Is robots.txt enough to block ReconWaveBot?

No. robots.txt is voluntary, so ReconWaveBot may not follow it, and anyone can send ReconWaveBot's user agent, so a fake ReconWaveBot ignores your rule. Enforce the rule where requests arrive, at your WAF, and check the source network.

Should I block ReconWaveBot?

Security scanners probe sites for vulnerabilities, certificates and exposed services. Some are research projects, some are vendors you hired. Allow your own scanners and block the rest at the WAF.

Related bots

All security scanners · Full bot directory

See Which Bots Visit Your Site

Transfon Security identifies every bot in this directory in your traffic reports, flags fake search crawlers, and lets you allow, block or rate limit each bot.

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