BDA Bot Defense Academy
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IX Sections · 50 Lectures

A peer-reviewed course in adversarial traffic.

Every detection technique paired with the evasion it provokes — and every evasion with the cost of stopping it.

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Foundational

  • I Introduction & Setup 4h · 4 lec
  • II Bot History & Taxonomy 5h · 5 lec

Applied

  • III Browser Fingerprinting & Device Identity 8h · 6 lec
  • IV Automation & Headless Browser Detection 7h · 6 lec
  • V IP Intelligence & Network-Layer Detection 8h · 7 lec

Advanced

  • VI Behavioral Analytics & ML for Bot Detection 10h · 9 lec
  • VII CAPTCHAs & API Security 8h · 7 lec
  • VIII CDN, WAF & Production Integration 7h · 5 lec
  • IX Final Q1 Project & Public Deliverables 6h · 1 lec

Featured lab

Build from browser fingerprinting & device identity.

A public assignment track from Section 3, built around fingerprinting and browser.

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Curriculum changelog ↗ How sections are sequenced ↗

Public reference shelf

Field notes from operators on both sides of the wire.

Long-form essays, condensed cheatsheets, and a working glossary maintained alongside the curriculum.

Open the resources hub →

Reading

  • B The Blog Long-form essays from instructors.
  • G Field Guides Onboarding and lab workflow.
  • R RSS Feed Subscribe in your reader of choice.

Reference

  • A Glossary Working definitions for the field.
  • # Cheatsheets Printable one-pagers for the lab.
  • L Bots & Labs Sandbox previews and practice.

Latest from the field

Why headless detection lost the arms race in 2025.

A retrospective on the decade the headless flag mattered, and the decade it stopped being enough.

Read the essay →
Submit a field note ↗ Editorial standards ↗
Bot Defense Academy
Curriculum +
All curriculum →

Foundational

  • Introduction & Setup 4h · 4 lec
  • Bot History & Taxonomy 5h · 5 lec

Applied

  • Browser Fingerprinting & Device Identity 8h · 6 lec
  • Automation & Headless Browser Detection 7h · 6 lec
  • IP Intelligence & Network-Layer Detection 8h · 7 lec

Advanced

  • Behavioral Analytics & ML for Bot Detection 10h · 9 lec
  • CAPTCHAs & API Security 8h · 7 lec
  • CDN, WAF & Production Integration 7h · 5 lec
  • Final Q1 Project & Public Deliverables 6h · 1 lec
About → Bots, Labs & Sandboxes → Blog →
Resources +
All resources →

Reading

  • The Blog Long-form essays from instructors.
  • Field Guides Onboarding and lab workflow.
  • RSS Feed Subscribe in your reader of choice.

Reference

  • Glossary Working definitions for the field.
  • Cheatsheets Printable one-pagers for the lab.
  • Bots & Labs Sandbox previews and practice.
Apply for Examination

Resources

The public reference shelf.

Candidate reading, lab support, and field vocabulary live here. The shelf is maintained alongside the curriculum so practitioners can move from essay to reference to hands-on work without changing context.

Research stream

Blog

Long-form editorial analysis from instructors and operators.

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Candidate operations

Field Guides

Prerequisites, lab setup, workflow, and deployment notes.

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Applied practice

Bots, Labs & Sandboxes

Bot variants, lab tracks, and sandbox previews for practice.

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Reference

Glossary

Working definitions for bot-defense terms and trade-offs.

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Desk references

Cheatsheets

Condensed one-page references for review and lab work.

Open section →

Latest from the field

  • 2026-03-30 Lab setup mistakes that break bot research
  • 2026-03-29 How to keep clean notes during bot experiments
  • 2026-03-28 From crawlers to AI agents: a practical bot history
Bot Defense Academy

Practical education for security and fraud practitioners defending production systems from bots, AI-driven abuse, and adversarial traffic.


Curriculum

  • All sections
  • I. Foundations
  • III. Fingerprinting
  • VIII. Edge enforcement

Resources

  • Hub
  • Blog
  • Glossary
  • Cheatsheets
  • Bots, Labs & Sandboxes
  • RSS

About

  • Story
  • Instructors
  • Methodology

Bots, Labs & Sandboxes

  • Bots
  • Lab tracks
  • Sandboxes
  • Lab reviews
  • Academy
  • Contact

Credential

  • Established MMXXVI
  • Public Draft v0.3
  • Open Specification
  • Peer Reviewed

© 2026 Bot Defense Academy. Published as a public good.

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