Partner Content In today’s digital landscape, the threat of automated attacks has increased, fueled by advances in artificial intelligence (AI).

Cybercriminals are increasingly using AI tools to launch sophisticated bot attacks targeting businesses of all sizes. These automated threats not only disrupt business operations, but also drain valuable resources as companies scramble to contain the damage.

A good example of this is the recent rise in credential stuffing attacks, where bots powered by AI algorithms systematically attempt to log into multiple accounts using stolen or leaked credentials. These attacks are particularly challenging because they can occur at an alarming scale and speed, overwhelming systems and causing significant financial and reputational damage.

Resource degradation due to bot attacks

Bot attacks force organizations to divert resources from their core business to address immediate threats. These incidents often require emergency response including incident analysis, remediation, and customer support.

Diverting resources not only disrupts daily operations, but also increases operational costs. In many cases, businesses must invest in additional security measures, such as advanced threat detection systems, to prevent future attacks. This can strain budgets and divert funds from other critical areas, such as innovation and growth initiatives.

One of the most infamous examples of bot attacks in recent years is the rise of “sneakerbots.” These bots are designed to snap up limited-edition sneakers and other in-demand products as soon as they become available online, often within milliseconds. Sneakerbots give resellers an unfair advantage, allowing them to acquire large quantities of in-demand items before legitimate customers have the chance.

Additionally, the influx of bot traffic can overload ecommerce platforms, causing sites to go down and resulting in even more lost revenue.

Complexity in a hybrid infrastructure

As enterprises increasingly embrace hybrid infrastructures—a combination of on-premises, cloud, and edge environments—their security posture becomes more complex. Bot attacks add an additional layer of complexity, as they exploit vulnerabilities in different parts of the infrastructure. In a hybrid environment, ensuring comprehensive security coverage is challenging, as each segment of the infrastructure may have different security protocols, tools, and monitoring systems.

This fragmentation can create blind spots that bots can exploit. For example, a bot attack might target a less secure cloud application, bypassing the stronger security measures in the company’s on-premises systems. Similarly, a bot might exploit weaknesses in edge devices, such as IoT sensors, to gain access to the broader network.

To effectively combat these advanced bot attacks, companies need to deploy equally advanced defense mechanisms. AI-driven telemetry is one such solution. Telemetry involves collecting, transmitting, and analyzing data from different parts of the infrastructure to provide real-time insight into system performance and security events.

In a hybrid infrastructure, AI-driven telemetry must span all environments: on-premises, cloud, and edge. This holistic approach ensures that no part of the infrastructure is left unattended, reducing the risk of blind spots. Telemetry data is collected from a wide range of sources, including network traffic, application logs, user behavior, and system performance data.

This data is then analyzed by AI and ML models to identify patterns and anomalies that could indicate a bot attack. For example, AI can detect unusual login attempts or abnormal traffic spikes that could indicate a credential stuffing or DDoS attack. Machine learning models can continuously refine their detection algorithms by learning from new data, becoming better able to identify and block malicious activity over time.

A unified bot mitigation solution like F5’s Distributed Cloud Bot Defense can be deployed across both hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Based on the telemetry collected from the different environments, F5 uses AI to analyze traffic volumes and quickly discovers attackers’ retooling movements to ensure sustainable bot prediction models with a near-zero false positive rate.

The importance of full visibility

Complete visibility is critical to defending against bot attacks, as it allows security teams to quickly detect and respond to threats, regardless of where they originate. In a hybrid infrastructure, this means having real-time visibility across all components, including cloud services, on-premises systems, and edge devices.

AI-driven telemetry enables security teams to correlate data from across their infrastructure, providing a comprehensive view of the threat landscape. This allows for more accurate threat detection and faster response times. Additionally, AI-driven analytics can help prioritize alerts so security teams focus on the most critical threats first. In an era where cyber threats are constantly evolving, AI-driven telemetry is not just a tool—it’s a necessity.

Contributed by F5.