Over the past several years, bots have dramatically transformed the way we engage with the Internet, handling a dizzying array of online activities, including indexing large amounts of data and providing customer service functions. And while there are numerous positive outcomes of automation, bots can also have a negative side, wreaking havoc for businesses as well as their customers.
Previous research conducted in 2021 uncovered that cyber attackers using bots have increased the intensity of their efforts and are focusing on websites with a large number of visitors where there are marketing programs and incentives in place to drive traffic. Data from that survey showed that potentially vulnerable organisations often lacked the tools that provide the visibility needed to defend against bot attacks and scope out the impact of breaches. Most importantly, our findings suggested an educational and awareness gap across organisations regarding the capabilities of sophisticated bots.