What is WHITEHAT?

WHITEHAT is a bot in the security scanners category, operated by Black Duck Software, Inc..

Bot name
WHITEHAT
Operator
Black Duck Software, Inc.
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
Not confirmed
robots.txt user agent
WHITEHAT
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
No

About WHITEHAT

Bot utilized for scanning for security vulerabilities

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.

WHITEHAT user agent

WHITEHAT identifies itself with this user agent string:

  • 397868 - WHITEHAT-US-PROD-2

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 WHITEHAT in robots.txt

We have not confirmed whether WHITEHAT 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 WHITEHAT from the whole site

User-agent: WHITEHAT
Disallow: /

Block WHITEHAT from some folders

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

Allow WHITEHAT only on some folders

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

Allow WHITEHAT and block other crawlers

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

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

Who should care about WHITEHAT

Publishers

Allow WHITEHAT 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

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

Transfon Security for advertisers

E-commerce

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

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

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

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block WHITEHAT with Transfon Security

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

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

Frequently asked questions

What is WHITEHAT?

WHITEHAT is a bot in the security scanners category, operated by Black Duck Software, Inc.. Bot utilized for scanning for security vulerabilities

Does WHITEHAT respect robots.txt?

We have not confirmed whether WHITEHAT 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 WHITEHAT?

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

Is robots.txt enough to block WHITEHAT?

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

Should I block WHITEHAT?

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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