What is SmarshBot?

SmarshBot is a bot in the security scanners category, operated by Smarsh.

Bot name
SmarshBot
Operator
Smarsh
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
Not confirmed
robots.txt user agent
SmarshBot
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
No

About SmarshBot

Providing archiving solutions to clients for compliance purposes

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.

SmarshBot user agent

SmarshBot identifies itself with this user agent string:

  • SmarshBot/1.0

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 SmarshBot in robots.txt

We have not confirmed whether SmarshBot 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 SmarshBot from the whole site

User-agent: SmarshBot
Disallow: /

Block SmarshBot from some folders

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

Allow SmarshBot only on some folders

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

Allow SmarshBot and block other crawlers

User-agent: SmarshBot
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: SmarshBot group, SmarshBot ignores your User-agent: * rules, so repeat any that should still apply.
  • The user agent name is not case sensitive. We take SmarshBot from SmarshBot's user agent; check Smarsh'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. SmarshBot may not follow the rule. robots.txt is a request that nothing enforces, and we have not confirmed that SmarshBot 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 SmarshBot's user agent, and a scraper using it is not bound by Smarsh's robots.txt policy. Only checking the source network tells a real SmarshBot from a fake one.

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

Who should care about SmarshBot

Publishers

Allow SmarshBot 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

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

Transfon Security for advertisers

E-commerce

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

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

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

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block SmarshBot with Transfon Security

robots.txt is a request, not an enforcement. Transfon Security shows SmarshBot 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 SmarshBot on your site

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

Frequently asked questions

What is SmarshBot?

SmarshBot is a bot in the security scanners category, operated by Smarsh. Providing archiving solutions to clients for compliance purposes

Does SmarshBot respect robots.txt?

We have not confirmed whether SmarshBot 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 SmarshBot?

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

Is robots.txt enough to block SmarshBot?

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

Should I block SmarshBot?

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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