Automated Traffic Surges Past Human Activity in Key Sectors
Event summary
- HUMAN Security’s 2026 report reveals automated traffic grew 23.51% YoY, outpacing human traffic growth of 3.10%.
- AI-driven traffic surged 187% in 2025, with 95% concentrated in retail, media, and travel sectors.
- Account takeover attacks quadrupled from 2024, with EMEA seeing a 13% attack rate vs. global 3.5%.
- Retail/e-commerce faced 70% of scraping attacks and 440K unique threat profiles in 2025.
The big picture
HUMAN Security’s findings underscore a fundamental shift in digital ecosystems, where AI agents are transitioning from browsing to transacting. This evolution raises critical questions about trust frameworks as automation diversifies across commerce, media, and travel sectors. The report highlights the growing complexity of cyber threats, particularly in EMEA, signaling potential governance gaps in emerging markets.
What we're watching
- Trust Validation
- How businesses adapt behavioral validation to distinguish legitimate AI commerce from abuse.
- Regional Disparities
- Whether EMEA’s higher attack rates signal emerging cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the region.
- Industry Targeting
- The pace at which retail/e-commerce sectors develop defenses against sophisticated scraping and ATO attacks.
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