Security News > 2024 > April > Bots dominate internet activity, account for nearly half of all traffic

49.6% of all internet traffic came from bots in 2023, a 2% increase over the previous year, and the highest level Imperva has reported since it began monitoring automated traffic in 2013.

For the fifth consecutive year, the proportion of web traffic associated with bad bots grew to 32% in 2023, up from 30.2% in 2022, while traffic from human users decreased to 50.4%. Automated traffic is costing organizations billions annually due to attacks on websites, APIs, and applications.

"From simple web scraping to malicious account takeover, spam, and denial of service, bots negatively impact an organization's bottom line by degrading online services and requiring more investment in infrastructure and customer support. Organizations must proactively address the threat of bad bots as attackers sharpen their focus on API-related abuses that can lead to account compromise or data exfiltration."

Global average of bad bot traffic reached 32%: Ireland, Germany, and Mexico, saw the highest levels of bad bot traffic in 2023.

Bad bots masquerading as mobile user agents accounted for 44.8% of all bad bot traffic in the past year, up from 28.1% just five years ago.

"Automated bots will soon surpass the proportion of internet traffic coming from humans, changing the way that organizations approach building and protecting their websites and applications," continued Singh.

News URL

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2024/04/18/automated-bots-internet-traffic/