For the first time in a decade, automated bot traffic has surpassed human-generated internet traffic, marking a significant shift in the digital landscape. According to the 2025 Imperva Bad Bot Report, bots accounted for 51% of all web traffic in 2024. This milestone underscores the growing influence of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation on the internet ecosystem, but it also raises concerns about the increasing sophistication and malicious use of bots.
The surge in bot traffic is largely attributed to the rise of AI and large language models (LLMs). These technologies have made it easier for both legitimate organizations and cybercriminals to create and deploy bots at scale. The accessibility of AI tools has significantly lowered the barrier to entry, enabling less technically skilled individuals to launch sophisticated bot attacks.
Not all bots are malicious. "Good bots" serve legitimate purposes such as indexing web content for search engines (like Googlebot), monitoring website uptime, and aggregating data for various applications. However, the rise in overall bot traffic is primarily driven by "bad bots" which engage in harmful activities. These include web scraping, account takeover (ATO) attacks, denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, spamming, and more.
The Imperva report highlights that malicious bots now constitute 37% of all internet traffic, a notable increase from 32% in 2023. This growth poses significant security challenges for organizations, as bad bots can degrade online services, skew analytics, compromise accounts, and exfiltrate sensitive data. The financial services, healthcare, and e-commerce sectors are particularly vulnerable due to their reliance on APIs for critical operations and sensitive transactions.
One of the most concerning trends is the increasing use of AI to create advanced bots that closely mimic human behavior and evade detection. These bots can analyze unsuccessful attempts and refine their techniques to bypass security measures with greater efficiency. The rise of "Bots-as-a-Service" (BaaS) platforms further exacerbates the problem by providing readily available tools and infrastructure for launching bot attacks.
The travel industry has emerged as a prime target for bot attacks, accounting for 27% of all bot-related incidents in 2024, up from 21% in 2023. The retail sector also faces a significant bot problem, with malicious bots making up 59% of their traffic. A notable shift is the decline in advanced bot attacks targeting the travel industry (41%, down from 61% in 2023) and the sharp increase in simple bot attacks (52%, up from 34%). This indicates that AI-powered automation tools have lowered the barriers to entry for attackers, allowing less sophisticated actors to initiate more basic bot attacks.
The rise in AI-driven bot creation has major consequences for companies worldwide. Organizations are increasingly at risk from malicious bots, which are growing in number by the day. To mitigate these risks, businesses must adopt proactive and adaptive security strategies that can effectively detect and block bot traffic without disrupting legitimate user activity. This includes implementing advanced bot protection solutions, API security measures, and client-side protection mechanisms.
As AI continues to evolve, the battle between bots and security professionals will likely intensify. Staying ahead of the curve requires a deep understanding of the latest bot tactics and techniques, as well as a commitment to continuous innovation in bot detection and mitigation technologies. The future of the internet depends on our ability to effectively manage and control bot traffic, ensuring a safe and reliable online experience for all users.
