Mobile Bots Grow 1,000% in 2013

Mobile Bots Grow 1,000% in 2013
by infosecurity
 
The number of bad bots has grown exponentially in recent years, driving poor internet performance for individuals and the loss of control over connected devices; wholesale theft of online intellectual property, content and data; unnecessarily high bandwidth fees; and compromised websites that are otherwise key to mission-critical functions. In fact, bad bots almost doubled as a percentage of all web traffic over the course of 2013, from 12.25% to 23.6%. And the number of mobile bots is up a staggering 1,000%.
“Bots are an effective means to an end for the dark side of the internet community”, explained Distil Networks, in its annual “Bad Bot Landscape” report. “From legitimate businesses and governments, to organized criminal hackers and nefarious thrill-seekers, bots have become a reliable and ready weapon of choice. With returns high and the risk of retribution low, those who develop and deploy bots are continuing to do so with ever greater reach and efficiency”.
The biggest growth engine for bots is the wireless space. Over the past year, Distil has witnessed the aforementioned increase of over 1,000% in mobile bad bot traffic, and tracked bad bot traffic originating from every wireless provider operating in the US. With the exception of América Móvil, every one of the top 10 global wireless providers served bad bot traffic from their network.
Better LTE networks and more smart devices are underpinning the growth. “This trend increases in importance each month, as mobile throughput continues to increase” said Distil.
“Smartphones are the most vulnerable of all mobile devices, and by the end of 2014, estimates show that there will be more than 6 billion mobile devices in use. This represents massive incentive for bad bot operators to focus more on mobile”.
 
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