Monster Mitigates Malicious Traffic & Fake Accounts with DataDome’s AI-Powered Protection

The challenge: A rise in bot-generated traffic

When Monster, one of the world’s largest job search platforms, introduced a pay-for-performance (PFP) model, it changed the game for employers. Instead of always paying a fixed fee for job postings, companies are only charged when a job seeker clicks on a listing or applies to a job, ensuring they only pay for results. 

But with the shift came a significant need for clean, bot-free traffic so that Monster could ensure they were not charging employers for interactions that would not lead to a real hire. 

“Employers expect to pay for real candidate engagement, but if fraudulent traffic started inflating the numbers, it would become a serious problem,” recalls the Senior DevOps Engineer at Monster.

Initially, Monster’s team was able to manually investigate suspicious traffic patterns. However, this was time-consuming and drained DevOps resources, taking away the time they would otherwise be spending on core platform improvements that provide further value to their customers. The company also turned to a WAF as a means of protecting the website, using both curated and custom rules, but Monster knew it wouldn’t be enough. Bad bots can evolve very quickly and eventually find ways to bypass those traditional defenses. 

“Monster sets out to refine and provide the best possible experience for its customers,” says the DevOps Engineer. “We felt that real-time inventory protection was a more fluid and adaptable way to protect our customers than classic inventory adjustment methods.” That’s why Monster looked into procuring a comprehensive cyberfraud protection platform that would keep bots out without disrupting genuine users. 

The solution: Real-time bot & fraud mitigation without any latency

To solve the bot problem, Monster decided a real-time adaptive solution that could differentiate between genuine job applicants and fraudulent bot traffic without disrupting the user experience was the optimal approach. But the DevOps team was also looking for a platform that would integrate with Monster’s existing infrastructure without adding complexity or latency. 

In addition, integration was very fast and efficient, which convinced the Monster team that DataDome was the right solution for them. Our contact recalls, “DataDome’s extensive integration capabilities, from cloud-based infrastructure to network devices and even code-level implementation, seamlessly covered our entire tech stack. It also ensured compatibility with any future technologies we might adopt. Their integration documentation was clear, accessible, and provided everything we needed to get up and running quickly.”

The platform’s flexibility enabled it to integrate with Monster’s analytics tools, security logs, and ad performance tracking, ensuring that every team had access to clear, actionable insights on bot activity.

The results: Strengthened bot defense, greater visibility, & increased customer confidence

Now that DataDome is fully deployed, Monster has complete visibility into its traffic. For the DevOps team, this new level of clarity means substantial time savings. What used to require hours of manual intervention each week is now handled automatically, in milliseconds. Fraudulent bot traffic is blocked before it can cause damage, and Monster’s engineers no longer have to catch up with constantly evolving attack tactics. Thanks to DataDome’s intuitive dashboards, which provide granular insights into bot activity, the team can now quickly visualize attack trends, track blocked threats in real-time, and analyze specific incidents with just a few clicks.

The scope of fraud prevention made possible by DataDome is particularly appreciated.  This has directly translated into increased trust on the part of Monster’s customers—recruiters and employers who rely on Monster’s platform to connect with real candidates, not automated spam or fraudulent leads.

Beyond the technology itself, Monster also found great support from the DataDome team. “Working with the DataDome team has been fantastic,” Senior DevOps Engineer shares. “They are always there when we need them, ready to dive in and help. Whether it’s answering technical questions, providing information on emerging threats, or just making sure everything runs smoothly, their support has been top-notch.”

Ready to protect your platform like Monster? Schedule a demo with DataDome and start blocking bad bots before they impact your business.