What is Software Security Research?
Software Security Research is an academic research crawler operated by the Chair for Software Security at Ruhr University Bochum in Germany. This bot performs HTTP and HTTPS probes to identify website origins behind Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) and reverse proxies as part of research evaluating the global security and privacy characteristics of the Internet. You can set up Agent Analytics to see when Software Security Research visits your website.
Overview
| Operated By | Ruhr University Bochum |
| Source | Official Website |
| Expected To Follow Robots.txt | Yes |
| Insights Last Updated | September 20, 2026 |
Do you operate this agent? Contact us to suggest an update.
Category
Expected Behavior
Software Security Research's cadence depends on how the scan is configured. Continuous monitoring may run daily or hourly, while a one-time or internet-wide scan may sweep once and disappear.
Software Security Research's User Agent
| User Agent | Software Security Research/1.0 (+https://reverse-proxies-measurements.softsec.ruhr-uni-bochum.de) |
How To Block Software Security Research With Robots.txt
Add this rule to your robots.txt file to block Software Security Research from accessing your website, or use Automatic Robots.txt to block all security scanners at once. You can customize which pages are blocked by swapping out / for a different path.
User-agent: Software Security Research # https://knownagents.com/agents/software-security-research
Disallow: /
Insights for Software Security Research
As of September 20, 2026, this data reflects agent visits measured across thousands of websites using Agent Analytics, combined with daily scans of the top 1000 websites and their robots.txt files.
Robots.txt Blocked Percentage
Country of Origin
Top Visited Website Categories
The types of websites most frequently visited by Software Security Research.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I Block Software Security Research?
Usually not, unless you already run your own security scans and want cleaner logs. Software Security Research checks for exposed vulnerabilities, and some services report their findings to site owners at no cost. For context, 7% of the top websites we track currently have robots.txt rules for Software Security Research.
Does Software Security Research Follow Robots.txt Rules?
Yes. Software Security Research is expected to follow robots.txt rules, so a disallow rule is the appropriate first step. Automatic Robots.txt can add and maintain that rule, while Agent Analytics lets you verify whether Software Security Research respects it.
Does Software Security Research Access Private Content?
It deliberately looks for exposed private content. Software Security Research tests login pages, admin panels, and API endpoints for vulnerabilities. Probing does not mean it gained access, but you should expect requests to sensitive paths in your logs.
How Can I Tell if Software Security Research Is Visiting My Website?
Agent Analytics tracks Software Security Research visits in real time. You can also check your server logs for requests whose user-agent string contains "Software Security Research". Look for bursts of requests to uncommon paths that ordinary visitors rarely access. Because Software Security Research does not publish a verification method, any client can claim its identity and a log match is only a clue.
Why Is Software Security Research Visiting My Website?
Software Security Research is scanning your site for vulnerabilities, either as part of an internet-wide sweep or because someone requested an assessment of your domain. Recurring visits often indicate that a monitoring service has added your site to its checks.