Most businesses aren’t equipped to thwart attacks by sophisticated bots

Bad Bots
(Image credit: Gonin / Shutterstock)

Internet-borne attacks conducted with malicious bots continue to pose a challenge to most organizations, and put a dent in their revenues, according to a new report.

Kasada conducted research showing that 83% of the companies it surveyed admitted experiencing at least one bot attack within the past year.

Furthermore, despite spending millions of dollars on anti-bot systems, 77% reported that the attacks cost them at least 6% of their revenue, with 39% losing 10% or more. On top of that, 63% claimed that it usually takes over a week to remediate a successful bot attack.

TechRadar needs you!

We're looking at how our readers use VPNs with streaming sites like Netflix so we can improve our content and offer better advice. This survey won't take more than 60 seconds of your time, and we'd hugely appreciate if you'd share your experiences with us.

>> Click here to start the survey in a new window <<

In absolute figures, 44% of the respondents say that on average a single bot attack costs their organizations at least $250,000, with a quarter reported losses totaling $500,000 or more.

Evolving bots

The report also shows that companies spent some serious chunk of change to mitigate bot attacks, with 27% spending in excess of $1 million to ensure their operations aren’t disrupted by bots.

However, despite their best efforts, an overwhelming majority of the respondents (80%) agreed that bots were becoming more sophisticated and difficult for their security tools to detect. 

In fact, less than a third (31%) exhibited confidence in their ability to detect new, never seen before bots, with an even smaller group (15%) reporting that their anti-bot solutions remained effective for more than a year after initial deployment.

Respondents indicate that the most difficult types of bot attacks to stop are credential stuffing, account takeover, web scraping, denial of inventory, CAPTCHA defeat, application DDoS, fake account creation, carding, and cracking. 

“More has changed in the bot ecosystem over the past two years than the prior decade. Today’s organizations need a different approach, one that is proactive and constantly adapting alongside attackers,” asserts Sam Crowther, CEO and founder, Kasada.

Mayank Sharma

With almost two decades of writing and reporting on Linux, Mayank Sharma would like everyone to think he’s TechRadar Pro’s expert on the topic. Of course, he’s just as interested in other computing topics, particularly cybersecurity, cloud, containers, and coding.

Read more
A stylized depiction of a padlocked WiFi symbol sitting in the centre of an interlocking vault.
IoT’s botnet problem is up 500% – three things admins must do now
Robotic hand clicking on captcha &#039;I am not a robot&#039;.
"A tracking cookie farm for profit" - report claims reCAPTCHA has caused 819 million hours of wasted human time, and billions in Google profits
Security padlock in circuit board, digital encryption concept
Rising cost of breaches forces organizations to rethink cybersecurity
Android phone malware
Over 25 new malware variants created every single hour as smart device cyberattacks more than double in 2024
security
The true cost of a security breach
Web DDoS attacks see major surge as AI allows more powerful attacks
Latest in Security
Google Chrome dark mode
Google updates Chrome extension rules to ban affiliate link injection without user action or benefit
Abstract image of robots working in an office environment including creating blueprint of robot arm, making a phone call, and typing on a keyboard
This worrying botnet targets unsecure TP-Link routers - thousands of devices already hacked
Avast cybersecurity
UK cybersecurity sector could be worth £13bn, research shows
An option to add Ambient Music buttons to the iOS 18.4 Control Center.
Apple fixes dangerous zero-day used in attacks against iPhones and iPads
Trump
Hackers are abusing $TRUMP tokens to lure victims in to new phishing scam
An American flag flying outside the US Capitol building against a blue sky
Sean Plankey selected as CISA director by President Trump
Latest in News
Two Android phones on a green and blue background showing Google Messages
Struggling with slow Google Messages photo transfers? Google says new update will make 'noticeable difference'
Elayne, Egwene, and Nynaeve dressed regally and on horseback in The Wheel of Time season 3
'There's a reason why we do it': The Wheel of Time showrunner responds to fans who are still upset over the Prime Video show's plot alterations
Google Pixel 9
Android 16 could bring an improved Samsung DeX-style desktop mode to more phones
An Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti
Nvidia could unleash RTX 5060 and 5060 Ti GPUs on PC gamers tomorrow, but there’s no sign of rumored RTX 5050 yet
AI writing
ChatGPT just wrote the most beautiful short story, and I wonder what I'm even doing here
Google Chrome dark mode
Google updates Chrome extension rules to ban affiliate link injection without user action or benefit