Undetected web scraping bots severely impact ecommerce
, /PRNewswire/ — Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM), Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the cloud company that powers and protects life online, today released a new State of the Internet (SOTI) report that details the security and business threats that organizations face with the proliferation of web scraping bots. Scraping Away Your Bottom Line: How Web Scrapers Impact Ecommerce finds that bots compose 42% of overall web traffic, and 65% of these bots are malicious.
With its reliance on revenue-generating web applications, the ecommerce sector has been most affected by high-risk bot traffic. Although some bots are beneficial to business, web scraper bots are being used for competitive intelligence and espionage, inventory hoarding, imposter site creation, and other schemes that have a negative impact on both the bottom line and the customer experience. There are no existing laws that prohibit the use of scraper bots, and they are hard to detect due to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) botnets, but there are some things companies can do to mitigate them.
“Bots continue to present massive challenges resulting in multiple pain points for app and API owners,” said , CTO, Security Strategy at Akamai. “This includes scraping that can steal web data and produce brand impersonation sites. The scraper landscape is also changing due to advancements like headless browser technology, requiring organizations to take an approach to managing this type of bot activity that is more sophisticated than other JavaScript-based mitigations.”
Key findings from the report include:
The Scraping Away Your Bottom Line research report offers mitigation strategies against scraper bots and features a case study that shows how websites operate much faster and efficiently once defenses against these bots are put into place. In addition, the research addresses compliance considerations that must be taken into account in light of these increasing attacks.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of Akamai’s State of the Internet (SOTI) reports. The SOTI series provides expert insights on the cybersecurity and web performance landscapes, based on data gathered from Akamai Connected Cloud.
About Akamai
Akamai powers and protects life online. Leading companies worldwide choose Akamai to build, deliver, and secure their digital experiences ” helping billions of people live, work, and play every day. Akamai Connected Cloud, a massively distributed edge and cloud platform, puts apps and experiences closer to users and keeps threats farther away. Learn more about Akamai’s cloud computing, security, and content delivery solutions at akamai.com and akamai.com/blog, or follow Akamai Technologies on X, formerly known as Twitter, and LinkedIn.
