Why Legitimate Bot Traffic Is a Growing Security Blind Spot

**Overview:** The report explains how legitimate and malicious bots—especially AI-driven crawlers and agentic systems—now comprise a large share of web traffic, expanding attack surfaces and stressing infrastructure. It argues that static allow/deny approaches are inadequate as automation patterns evolve, and emphasizes the need for long-term visibility across web apps, APIs, and content to detect shifts, validate controls, and manage costs. The piece introduces Hydrolix Bot Insights, which retains and analyzes high-volume traffic over extended periods to help security teams track trends, assess bot identity and enforcement, and better manage automation.