Bad bots sophistication level by industry 2023

In 2023, the majority of website traffic was still generated by humans but bot traffic is steadily increasing. Fraudulent traffic through bad bot actors also exists at various levels of sophistication. In the education sector, most bad bots were considered simple, while in the marketing sector, the majority were considered moderate. In contrast, over 75 percent of bad bot traffic in the law and government industry was considered advanced.

Sophistication level of bad bots worldwide in 2023, by industry

Characteristic	Advanced	Moderate	Simple
Law & government	75.8%	3.2%	21%
Entertainment	70.8%	8%	21.1%
Financial services	67.1%	14.7%	18.2%
Travel	60.9%	5.2%	33.8%
Gambling	52.3%	29%	18.8%
Retail	51.9%	15.6%	32.6%
Food & groceries	50.4%	6.6%	43%
Telecom & ISPs	49.7%	14.4%	35.9%
Business services	46.9%	21.8%	31.3%
Gaming	45.9%	26.4%	27.7%
News	37.7%	41.8%	20.5%
Sports	35.9%	26.9%	37.1%
Computing & IT	33.3%	25.2%	41.5%
Community & Society	31.4%	38%	30.6%
Lifestyle	31.2%	17.6%	51.2%
Automotive	17.6%	30.9%	51.5%
Healthcare	10%	4.2%	85.8%
Education	4.6%	3.1%	92.3%
Marketing	0.5%	77.3%	22.2%

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Release date

April 2024

More information

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

2023

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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