Fifth Annual Bad Bot Report Released by Distil Networks

Distil Networks has released its fifth annual Bad Bot Report, titled ‘Bad Bot Report 2018: The Year Bad Bots Went Mainstream.’

The research examined hundreds of billions of automated bot requests at the application layer.

“This year bots took over public conversation, as the FBI continues its investigation into Russia’s involvement in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and new legislation made way for stricter regulations,” said Tiffany Olson Jones, CEO of Distil Networks.

“Yet, as awareness grows, bot traffic and sophistication continue to escalate at an alarming rate.

“Despite bad bot awareness being at an all-time high, this year’s Bad Bot Report illustrates that no industry is immune to automated threats and constant vigilance is required in order to thwart attacks of this kind.”

Distil reports that bad bots are used by a range of parties, including hackers, fraudsters and competitors in a number of sectors.

The report found that in 2017, bad bots accounted for over 20% of all website traffic.

Russia became the most blocked country by IP addresses, with a number of companies looking to safeguard against malicious attacks.

Gambling and airline sectors were among the most impacted by bad bots – the bots accounted for around half of their website traffic in each instance.

Close to three quarters of bot activity is now moderately or highly sophisticated, with many bots mimicking human behaviour via mouse movements and clicks.

Download a full copy of Distil Networks’ report here.