What is SplunkAttackAnalyzer?

SplunkAttackAnalyzer is a bot in the security scanners category, operated by Splunk.

Bot name
SplunkAttackAnalyzer
Operator
Splunk
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
Not confirmed
robots.txt user agent
TwinWaveScanner
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
No

About SplunkAttackAnalyzer

Splunk Attack Analyzer (formerly known as TwinWave), visits URLs submitted by customers using a headless Chrome browser. DOM (Document Object Model), HAR (HTTP Archive), and other relevant data from these visits are analyzed to determine if the page is hosting malicious content.

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.

SplunkAttackAnalyzer user agent

SplunkAttackAnalyzer identifies itself with this user agent string:

  • TwinWaveScanner

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 SplunkAttackAnalyzer in robots.txt

We have not confirmed whether SplunkAttackAnalyzer 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 SplunkAttackAnalyzer from the whole site

User-agent: TwinWaveScanner
Disallow: /

Block SplunkAttackAnalyzer from some folders

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

Allow SplunkAttackAnalyzer only on some folders

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

Allow SplunkAttackAnalyzer and block other crawlers

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

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

Who should care about SplunkAttackAnalyzer

Publishers

Allow SplunkAttackAnalyzer 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

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

Transfon Security for advertisers

E-commerce

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

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

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

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block SplunkAttackAnalyzer with Transfon Security

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

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

Frequently asked questions

What is SplunkAttackAnalyzer?

SplunkAttackAnalyzer is a bot in the security scanners category, operated by Splunk. Splunk Attack Analyzer (formerly known as TwinWave), visits URLs submitted by customers using a headless Chrome browser. DOM (Document Object Model), HAR (HTTP Archive), and other relevant data from these visits are analyzed to determine if the page is hosting malicious content.

Does SplunkAttackAnalyzer respect robots.txt?

We have not confirmed whether SplunkAttackAnalyzer 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 SplunkAttackAnalyzer?

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

Is robots.txt enough to block SplunkAttackAnalyzer?

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

Should I block SplunkAttackAnalyzer?

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.

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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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