Unified Account Defense: How AI-Powered Layers Stop Bots and Human Fraud—Faster

Protecting user accounts is more complex than ever. Attackers today mix automated tools with human-driven tactics to commit fraud, often within the same session. Relying on a single layer of defense leaves you exposed. That’s why security teams are shifting to a layered approach that blocks automated attacks early and detects fraud as it unfolds.

Think of your platform like a fortress. It’s not enough to build a wall—you need guards watching every entrance and monitoring what happens inside. That’s how you catch attackers who slip past the front gate.

The same applies to account protection. Bot Protect and Account Protect work hand-in-hand, constantly exchanging telemetry to stop fraud faster and more accurately. That’s the “1+1=3” effect: shared intelligence, compounding insight, and more accurate detection on both fronts.

Stop malicious automation before it reaches your app

Credential stuffing, fake account creation, and account takeovers are common threats at the login and registration stage—where attackers test stolen credentials, create synthetic identities, or hijack existing accounts. Other automated threats like scraping and DDoS target different parts of the user journey, aiming to exploit public-facing pages or overwhelm infrastructure.These attacks can compromise user data, drain resources, steal funds, and damage trust. 

DataDome Bot Protect is your first line of defense. Sitting close to your app, on the CDN or app delivery layer, Bot Protect evaluates every request in context, using AI to analyze behavioral patterns, request headers, session metadata, and IP reputation in real time. With insights from over 5 trillion signals a day, it makes decisions in <2 milliseconds.

And it’s not just stopping the obvious. Bot Protect adapts constantly, catching advanced bots that mimic human behavior with headless browsers, scripted clicks, and other evasion tricks. All of this happens with near-zero latency and an industry-low false positive rate of 0.01%, ensuring seamless access for legitimate users.

At SoundCloud, this first layer of protection made a measurable difference. As their VP of Engineering noted, “Bot traffic was hiding in plain sight. We needed a solution that could scale with our platform and stop credential stuffing and scraping without creating friction for real users.”

Move inside the walls: detecting fraud that blends in

Once automated threats are out of the way, a different kind of risk emerges—fraud that looks legitimate. Stolen credentials, fake identities, and session hijacks don’t break the gate—they walk right through it.

That’s where DataDome Account Protect takes over. It monitors behavior after login, analyzing user activity to detect in-session fraud in real time. By creating a behavioral baseline for each account, Account Protect can detect subtle shifts in how users interact—flagging unusual behavior like impossible travel, device spoofing, copy-paste automation, or biometric irregularities.

Here’s where the “1+1=3” synergy kicks in again: Account Protect continuously draws from Bot Protect’s telemetry—such as IP risk scoring and behavioral trends—to enhance its own detection models. That means more accurate risk evaluation, with fewer false positives and faster response times.

Fully integrated into the DataDome platform, Account Protect powers automated responses like adaptive MFA, account locking, or session termination, customized to your risk thresholds.

SoundCloud used Account Protect to stop fraudulent session takeovers in real time. Their team reported a significant drop in suspicious logins immediately after deployment, noting that “the behavioral signals helped us differentiate real fans from fraudsters with stolen credentials.”

Why layered defense is greater than the sum of its parts

While Bot Protect and Account Protect each offer robust protection, their true power lies in how they learn from each other. 

Bot Protect feeds Account Protect high-quality traffic data and behavioral risk signals. Account Protect, in turn, shares insights about anomalous in-session behavior, attack patterns, and verified fraud attempts. Together, this shared intelligence makes each layer more effective and makes the entire system smarter with every interaction.

As a result, incoming traffic becomes easier to classify, risk scoring improves, and both layers adapt faster to emerging threats. Detection becomes more precise. Alerts become more actionable. And security teams gain context they can trust.

Together, they form a self-reinforcing, AI-powered feedback loop—protecting your platform from the outside in and the inside out.

How layered account protection solves real industry problems

Account fraud looks different in every industry. But the need for adaptive, real-time protection is universal.

Retail & e-commerce

In retail and e-commerce, customer acquisition costs are high and loyalty is easily lost. Fraudsters create fake accounts to game referral programs, abuse discount codes, or exploit return policies. Meanwhile, credential stuffing puts real customer accounts at risk. Bot Protect and Account Protect help merchants block these attacks without hurting the user experience.

Ticketing

In ticketing, every product is a high-demand, limited inventory item. Bots that hoard tickets and resell them on secondary markets not only alienate real fans but drive support costs and reputational damage. These platforms also face login abuse as fraudsters seek to hijack legitimate purchases or flip delivery methods.

Travel & hospitality

In travel and hospitality, loyalty programs are a major revenue lever—and a prime target for fraud. Attackers scrape pricing data, hoard points using fake accounts, and exploit booking workflows for resale or refund abuse. Because redemptions often occur through logged-in sessions, fraudulent behavior can be difficult to detect without a historical or behavioral baseline. And with loyalty currencies increasingly resembling cash, securing these accounts is critical to maintaining long-term customer relationships.

Marketplaces

Marketplace platforms act as intermediaries, connecting buyers and sellers while managing trust and transactions. That makes them a lucrative target for account draining and transactional fraud. Attackers often test stolen credentials to access seller wallets or conduct phishing scams from compromised accounts. Like a bank, marketplaces are expected to keep balances safe and protect both sides of every exchange. 

This was the case for Vinted, which blocked 33% of fraudulent registrations and protected millions in GMV. Their product team noted, “The combination of edge protection and in-session analysis allowed us to maintain trust on the platform while scaling to millions of users.”

Media & entertainment

In media and entertainment, account sharing and credential stuffing directly cut into revenue. Attackers target login endpoints to access paid subscriptions, often reselling them or running content scraping operations. Behavioral detection is key to spotting subtle signs like access from shared devices or inconsistent playback patterns. This was exactly the challenge SoundCloud faced—they used DataDome to detect and stop complex ATO attempts in real time without disrupting loyal users.

Financial services & tech

In financial services and tech platforms, fraud is high-stakes and highly targeted. Attackers automate access to customer accounts, scrape pricing or interest rate data, or test stolen credentials to initiate wire transfers or move funds. At the same time, customer tolerance for friction is extremely low. The challenge is maintaining airtight security without degrading the user experience. That requires both pre-authentication protection and real-time insight into session behavior.

Why this matters more than ever

Fraud isn’t static. AI agents, deepfakes, and synthetic identities are blurring the line between bots and humans. Protecting accounts now requires more than static rules—it demands a system that analyzes intent and behavior in real time.

A layered approach that focuses on intent, not just identity, is the best way to adapt. And that’s exactly what DataDome delivers: protection that evaluates behavior and context in real time—at the edge and inside the account. And the more you use it, the smarter it gets.

Unified. Adaptive. Precise. That’s the future of account defense.

Ready to upgrade your account protection strategy? Book a demo to see how Bot Protect and Account Protect combine AI, speed, and precision to keep fraud out—without getting in your users’ way.