Imperva Data Drops: Bots Now Command Nearly Half of All Internet Traffic, Costing Billions

Post date: April 15, 2025 · Discovered: April 23, 2026 · 3 posts, 0 comments

Automated traffic constitutes an undeniable threat, with figures pointing to 49.6% of all internet traffic originating from bots in 2023, according to Imperva data. Furthermore, the malicious segment of this traffic is not just growing in volume, climbing to 32% in 2023 from 30.2% in 2022.

Commenters cite concrete figures showing bot dominance. Danterious repeatedly cites the 49.6% figure, noting it is the highest since 2013. Meanwhile, BrikoX claims bot activity hit 51% of total traffic, surpassing human use for a decade. The threat is framed not just by volume, but by specific malice, as noted by lemmydev2 regarding the spike in 'bad bots.'

Key Points

#1Bot traffic now represents an overwhelming majority of internet activity.

Multiple sources converge on the idea that automated traffic is massive, with specific figures cited near the 50% mark.

#2The threat is worsening, not just increasing in volume.

lemmydev2 pointed out that the proportion of 'bad bots' hit 32% in 2023, an increase from 30.2% the year prior.

#3The financial impact of bots is enormous.

Danterious stated that automated traffic costs organizations billions (USD) annually.

#4Specific data points vary slightly but agree on bot dominance.

Danterious cited 49.6% (from Imperva), while BrikoX posted a more aggressive 51% figure.

Source Discussions (3)

This report was synthesized from the following Lemmy discussions, ranked by community score.

124
points
Bots dominate internet activity, account for nearly half of all traffic
[email protected]·13 comments·4/18/2024·by Danterious·helpnetsecurity.com
38
points
Bots dominate internet activity, account for nearly half of all traffic
[email protected]·5 comments·4/18/2024·by lemmydev2·helpnetsecurity.com
18
points
AI bots dominate internet traffic
[email protected]·1 comments·4/15/2025·by BrikoX·techzine.eu