“AI Bots: The New Roadrunners on the Cyber Highway”
“AI Bots Are Now a Signifigant Source of Web Traffic”
“According to F5 labs, bot traffic—a combination of good bots, like the crawlers that websites use to index the internet, and mal bots—made up 37.9 percent of all traffic in 2020, up from 17.2 percent in 2019”.
Let’s unpack this interesting factoid. Forget humans, it looks like apps are ruling the internet lately. A recent report from F5 labs suggests that about 37.9 percent of all web traffic last year was caused by bots. Yes, you read it right. Nearly half of your website’s visitors could well be bots, Love it or hate it, they are here to stay.
But what’s a bot, you ask? It’s a blend of your friendly neighborhood spider bots that help index websites and the not-so-friendly mal bots. While the good guys help maintain order in the chaotic web universe by indexing internet content, mal bots are the boogeymen of the internet. They’re what cause cyber attacks and other nasty stuff nobody wants on their morning to-do list. The bot traffic, as they call it, has seen a spike from a meager 17.2 percent in 2019.
The fact that more people have taken to digital spaces due to the pandemic, one might initially think this bot traffic increase is understandable. But no, hold onto your chairs, bots don’t really care about pandemics. Whether you’re working in sweatpants or vacationing in Hawaii, bots are consistently prowling the internet, pandemic or not. The increase in numbers must be due to something else!
Even though they’ve been around for quite some time, bots are on a mission to take over the internet, apparently. Some can argue that they make lives easier with automation functions. From handling repetitive tasks to providing quick responses, some bots sure make the cut. But the mal bots continue to haunt, causing cyber threats and exploiting vulnerabilities. Recall the set of troublemakers in elementary school? Bots are pretty much like the digital versions of them.
In closing, whether one is thrilled at the sight of bots on their website or not, it’s essential to know that they are coming in droves. And yes, they hold the potential to exploit vulnerabilities, causing more harm than good in many cases. Therefore, it’s crucial to be ready for the bot invasion, with cyber security strategies in place. Onto a digital world where humans coexist with bots! Can’t help but wonder, will there be a bot for that someday?