Bots surpass humans in Singapore internet traffic in 2024: report

Bots were responsible for 50.4% of internet traffic in Singapore last year, whilst the global average stood at 51%.

Automated internet traffic driven by bots has overtaken human activity globally, with Singapore seeing similar trends, according to the 2025 Imperva Bad Bot Report released by Thales.

The report indicated that bots were responsible for 50.4% of internet traffic in Singapore last year, whilst the global average stood at 51%.

The report attributed the rise in bot activity to the widespread availability of artificial intelligence tools, which have lowered technical barriers for creating and deploying automated bots.

In Singapore, malicious bots accounted for 45% of all internet traffic, a significant increase from 35% in 2023.

In terms of industry impact, the report identified the gambling (99.96%), gaming (97%), and automotive (89%) sectors in Singapore as having the highest prevalence of bad bot traffic. Advanced bots most frequently targeted the travel (33%), retail (32%), and gaming (13%) industries.

API-focused attacks — where bots exploit the logic and operations of application programming interfaces — were another major trend.

In Singapore, these attacks accounted for 33% of advanced bot traffic, often targeting payment systems, account access points, and sensitive data flows.

Industries that rely heavily on APIs and handle sensitive data, such as financial services, healthcare, and e-commerce, were highlighted as especially vulnerable.

Globally, the financial sector experienced the highest proportion of account takeover attempts, followed by telecommunications and IT.

The report also noted a shift in bot attack techniques, with an increase in simple, high-volume bot activity and a corresponding decline in more complex methods. This suggests that automation is enabling attackers to conduct large-scale operations with less technical sophistication.