SURVEY: Mobile App & API Threats at Critical High Make Bot Protection Top Priority for Online Commerce

Protecting mobile applications and APIs against automated threats is a top priority for online commerce businesses, according to data from our study—The State Of Enterprise Bot And Online Fraud Management—published today.

Conducted by Forrester Consulting, the survey of online commerce companies evaluates the main impacts that malicious automated traffic has on businesses, and their key cybersecurity priorities for the coming year.

Key Findings

• Cost of man-hours is the main impact of bot attacks (45%), followed by loss of revenue (41%) and loss of customer trust (39%). 
• Businesses are prioritizing protection against three types of online fraud: card fraud, inventory fraud, and account fraud.
• Mobile app and API protection are top priorities for the next 12 months among ⅔ respondents.

Impacts of Malicious Traffic

As malicious bots leverage scale and automation, they disrupt good customer traffic, diminish customer experience, and commit fraud. Respondents reported that protection from online fraud, particularly in the form of card fraud, inventory fraud, and account fraud, is of critical importance. 

These attacks impact the entire value chain, from employee to customer: 45% of surveyed respondents reported the cost of man-hours spent mitigating attacks as the top impact, followed by loss of revenue (41%), and loss of customer trust (39%). 

Safeguarding CX at All Costs

It is a top priority for the surveyed organizations to: 

1. Safeguard user performance and app availability (86%).
2. Provide a top customer experience (CX) and app experience (84%).
3. Leverage bot detection and management that is consistent across mobile apps, websites, and APIs (79%).
4. Identify false positives in real time (76%).  

And for good reason: regardless of attack types and detection mechanisms, the majority of attacks require active intervention. Furthermore, attacks overwhelmingly (71%) target high-profile events and promotions—which can be very costly for online commerce companies.

The survey data is clear: organizations have a collective business priority to ensure optimal customer experience, solid user performance, and consistent bot management, regardless of platform. That’s why they know they cannot handle automated threats on their own and predominantly look for responsiveness and industry expertise to guide them through their bot management solution.

Methodology

DataDome commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct the online survey of 104 business decision makers in the retail and travel industries in October 2021. The respondents represent companies of all sizes that have a free online shopping app on a play/app store, with a minimum revenue of $100M.