According to a new study, bot attacks on organizations around the world come disproportionately from Russia and China.
A survey of 440 companies by Coleman Parkes and published by Netacea, an AI-powered bot detection service, found that 53 percent of all bot attacks came from Russia and China, and 72 percent of Respondents said they were affected by bots based in China and 66 percent in Russia.
Rob Black, professor of information activities at Cranfield University, has said this growth can be attributed to the changing nature of war and conflict.
“In today’s era, conflict is no longer pursued solely through traditional military means. “Instead, state actors are engaging in a variety of different forms of competition,” he said.
“More often than not, this is achieved through rapid technological advances, recognizing that we are no longer distinct nations separated by borders and seas, but are interconnected through networks, information flows and data.”
Rising geopolitical tensions, such as the conflict in Ukraine and tension between China and the West, are potential reasons for the growth of robot attacks coming from these two nations.
Netacea co-founder Andy Still has said that while this could be a contributing factor, “it is not possible to attribute specific motivations and threat actors.”
That said, Still said that while these attacks may not be the official policy of these countries, they are not being repressed locally as their results align “with broader national objectives.”
Optiv cyber practice leader Nick Hyatt said automated attacks are expected from Russia and China due to their sophisticated offensive security programs and the changing nature of intelligence.
“As in any country, the activities undertaken by these groups range from intelligence gathering to espionage,” Hyatt said.
“Given the wide range of organizations these groups typically target, automation through bot activity allows for broad initial activity, with hands-on keyboard work once appropriate targets have been found.”
These bot attacks are having a major impact on organizations: the average business loses 4.3 percent of online revenue to bots.
This is equivalent to $85.6 million, a value that is more than double what it was two years ago, once again reinforcing the argument that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is having an impact.
Bot attacks have increased globally across the board, and 99 percent of respondents who detected an automated attack said they had detected an increase in attack volume. These bots work by attacking broadly, seeking to get a small foot in the door that can lead to additional, more sophisticated automated attacks.
Then they attack websites, application programming interfaces (API) and applications, causing problems for businesses on a large scale.
The Netacea report also found that two new attack vectors were detected: fake account creation and gift card decryption.
Bot traffic, in general, is increasing enormously online: bots accounted for 47.4 percent of all Internet traffic last year. By the end of 2023, bots are expected to account for the majority of all Internet traffic.
Bot traffic is not necessarily a sign that automated threat actors are taking over, and many bots are used for good. However, the growing threat of bad robots is present and growing.
