Bad Bots in the Agentic Age: What the 2026 Thales Bad Bot Report Reveals

The 2026 Thales Bad Bot Report describes a dramatic shift toward machine-driven internet activity, reporting that bots account for 53% of internet traffic (40% classified as bad bots) and highlighting a tenfold rise in AI-driven daily bot attacks; it introduces a new category—AI agents—that blend legitimate automation with malicious activity, details API-focused attack types (data leakage, RCE/RFI, business logic abuse, automated attacks, path traversal), identifies most-targeted sectors (Financial Services and Retail), and recommends treating APIs as critical infrastructure and adopting adaptive, AI-assisted defenses.