What are some potential pitfalls when using user agents to detect bots in PHP scripts?

One potential pitfall when using user agents to detect bots in PHP scripts is that user agents can be easily spoofed, allowing malicious bots to bypass detection. To mitigate this risk, it is recommended to use a combination of user agent detection along with other techniques such as IP address filtering or CAPTCHA challenges. 

// Example of combining user agent detection with IP address filtering
$user_agent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'];
$ip_address = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];

if (strpos($user_agent, 'bot') !== false || strpos($ip_address, '123.456.789') !== false) {
    // Bot detected, take appropriate action (e.g. block access)
    // Alternatively, implement CAPTCHA challenge or other verification method
} else {
    // Not a bot, proceed with normal script execution
}

Keywords

user agents bots detection PHP scripts pitfalls

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