The Internet has entered a new era in which automated traffic generates more web activity than human users, a new study suggests. Website owners will have to deploy increasingly sophisticated defenses against attacks.
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Robots, not humans, drove the majority of online shopping traffic during the late 2024 holiday season, according to a report (PDF) from Radware. For the first time in history, software tools ranging from simple scripts to AI-powered digital agents accounted for 57% of all traffic, outnumbering humans on e-commerce sites. The report highlights that malicious bots continue to evolve, with nearly 60% now employing behavioral strategies designed to evade detection, including changing IP addresses and IDs, passing CAPTCHA tests, and mimicking human browsing habits. Mobile bots increased 160% between the 2023 and 2024 holiday seasons, with attackers deploying mobile emulators and unsigned browsers that mimic human behavior.
The only effective means of countering malicious bots is the use of advanced tools – protection based on AI that can learn and adapt. Companies should review their arsenals of security tools, abandon basic filters in favor of solutions offering advanced protection against DDoS attacks and intelligent traffic monitoring. Bots are actively integrated into everyday Internet traffic – the traffic of attacks through proxy networks with home IP addresses has increased by 32%, and this significantly complicates the use of traditional protection methods for online store administrators, such as speed limiting or blocking by geofencing.
The most alarming thing is the rise of single-vector campaigns that combine bots with traditional exploits and attacks that target APIs directly. The goal of such campaigns is no longer to collect prices or steal credentials, but to completely shut down sites. Enterprises that rely on online store builders and user-friendly platforms are at risk: security tools must evolve along with attack tools, and platform operators will have to implement new defenses against increasingly sophisticated threats.