Bad bots sophistication level by industry 2022

In 2022, the majority of website traffic was still generated by humans but bot traffic is constantly increasing. Fraudulent traffic through bad bot actors also exists at various levels of sophistication. In the marketing traffic segment, the majority of bad bot traffic was simple. In contrast, almost 90 percent of bad bot traffic in the law and government industry was advanced.

Sophistication level of bad bots worldwide in 2022, by industry

Characteristic	Simple	Moderate	Advanced
Law & government	8.2%	2.8%	89%
Travel	32%	4.6%	63.4%
Telecom & ISPs	31.3%	8.2%	60.5%
Retail	31.6%	16.5%	51.9%
Financial services	30.3%	23.9%	45.8%
Lifestyle	36.1%	19.8%	44.2%
Gambling	26.1%	31.8%	42.2%
Computing & IT	26.2%	32.7%	41.1%
Business services	36.1%	22.9%	41%
Food & groceries	47.1%	12.3%	40.6%
Gaming	39.3%	20.7%	40.1%
Sports	27.9%	32.5%	39.6%
Community & Society	34.4%	30.1%	35.5%
Healthcare	63%	6%	31%
Entertainment	57.9%	12.4%	29.7%
News	45.7%	27%	27.3%
Automotive	40.1%	34.5%	25.3%
Education	78.8%	15.5%	5.7%
Marketing	74.4%	23.1%	2.6%

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Release date

May 2023

More information

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

2022

Supplementary notes

Values may not add to 100 percent due to rounding.
According to the source:

" • SIMPLE Connecting from a single, ISP-assigned IP address, this type connects to sites using automated scripts, not browsers, and doesn’t self-report (masquerade) as being a browser.

• MODERATE Being more complex, this type uses “headless browser” software hat simulates browser technology—including the ability to execute JavaScript.

• ADVANCED Producing mouse movements and clicks that fool even sophisticated detection methods, these bad bots mimic human behavior and are the most evasive. They use browser automation software, or malware installed within real browsers, to connect to sites.

• ADVANCED PERSISTENT BOTS (APBs) APBs are a combination of moderate and sophisticated bad bots. They tend to cycle through random IP addresses, enter through anonymous proxies and peer-to-peer networks, and are able to change their user agents. They use a mix of technologies and methods to evade detection while maintaining persistence on target sites."

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