Shocking! 62% of All Web Traffic Isn’t Human? Bots – Good AND Bad – Do Most of Work

Unless you're a cyborg and are reading this, you're in the minority!

According to The Week online,  61.5% of web traffic is now done by what are called "bots."   A recently comprehensive study done by cloud computer web-based security business Incapsula has found that these software programs designed to perform automated tasks now do most of the work on the internet.

Many are "good" bots, such as those used for search engine crawling, or indexing websites and a host of other activities.  But others are bad, used by hackers and spammers.

According to Incapsula, of that 61.5% of traffic,  just over 30% is done by harmful bots called scrapers, hackers, scammers and imitators.   Some of these attack, for example, websites that feature forums, travel sites, e-news, and classifieds.

The study showed in 2012, 51% of web traffic was still "human," with 49% bot.  2013 represents a dramatic shift in that percentage.   However, spam bots - the ones that riddle your email junk box with all sorts of silly offers - have seen their traffic drop by at least 2%.  That's a significant decrease given the volume of web traffic.   Incapsula says that may be in part to Google stepping up intense anti-spam campaigns.

So unless the email you get comes from somebody you KNOW is a carbon-based life unit, there's a good chance it's from a bot.   Wonder if they get to come to work in their sweats and a t-shirt?