87% of executives worried about bot attacks and AI fraud

Bot attacks and security concerns were examined in a recent report by Kasada. The report revealed that 98% of organizations that were targeted by bots in the previous year experienced a loss in revenue. The most significant threats were web scraping (web crawling) and account fraud, leading to over 5% revenue loss for more than one third of IT/IS specialists.

The study also found that 67% of technology companies currently utilize CDN-based bot detection, while 30% have spent $1,000,000 or more on countering bot attacks in the last year. However, traditional bot mitigation solutions have proven ineffective over time, with only 20% stating that their solutions retained efficacy for more than 12 months. Consequently, 79% are considering changing their bot mitigation providers based on detection and effectiveness.

The report highlights the following key trends:

• Leaders are increasingly concerned about AI-driven fraud and automated threats.
• 87% of IT/IS specialists report that their executive team has worries about bot attacks and AI-powered fraud.

Many IT/IS specialists fear that AI advancements will lead to more sophisticated and frequent bot attacks. The most concerning AI-driven security threat scenarios include:

• Generative AI aiding criminal attackers in executing complex attacks more easily.
• Advanced bots being able to bypass CAPTCHAs with ease.
• An increase in advanced attacks that could disrupt organizations significantly.
• Despite concerns about CAPTCHA effectiveness, many businesses still rely on them.
• 57% of IT/IS specialists view bots bypassing CAPTCHAs as a major issue.
• 73% believe that eliminating CAPTCHAs would enhance the customer experience on websites.

Web scraping is identified as one of the most costly automated threats to businesses. Among IT/IS specialists who reported a bot attack in the last year:

• 37% experienced more than a 5% revenue loss due to web scraping.
• 34% suffered over 5% revenue loss from account fraud.
• 26% saw revenue decreases of more than 5% due to SMS pumping / toll fraud.