Cloudflare Releases Key Internet Trends for 2023

News Desk - 13/12/2023

Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET), the foremost connectivity cloud company, has released its fourth annual Year in Review, delving into global Internet insights and security trends, and providing a detailed analysis of the most popular Internet services in 2023.

The Internet stands as perhaps the most pervasive element of contemporary life. Cloudflare’s Year in Review disclosed a remarkable 25% surge in global traffic in 2023 alone, indicating an unabated momentum. This surge underscores the reliance on Internet services to facilitate and underpin essential systems and tasks, including supporting global digital economies, sustaining the operations of healthcare networks, ensuring business continuity for enterprises, and ultimately connecting individuals with their communities.

Key highlights of 2023 include:

Most Popular Internet Service: Google maintained its top position for the second consecutive year, trailed by Facebook (#2), Apple (#3), and TikTok (#4).
Most Popular Social Media Platform: Facebook secured the leading spot, surpassing TikTok (#2), followed by Instagram (#3), and Twitter/X (#4).
Most Popular Generative AI Service: OpenAI claimed the top spot in this emerging category, followed by Character AI (#2), Quillbot (#3), and Hugging Face (#4).
Most Targeted Industry: Financial organizations were the most frequently targeted by threat actors on a global scale.
Most Common Cyberthreats: Deceptive links and extortion attempts embedded in malicious email messages ranked as the top two most exploited attack types.
Internet Outages Observed: Over 180 Internet outages occurred worldwide in 2023, exceeding the 150 reported in 2022. Many of these outages were attributed to government-directed regional and national shutdowns of Internet connectivity.

Matthew Prince, CEO and co-founder at Cloudflare, emphasized the company’s unique role as one of the world’s largest global networks, serving as a pillar of critical infrastructure for the digital world. Prince highlighted Cloudflare’s commitment to transparency and the sharing of data and perspectives through reports like the Year in Review, aiming to contribute to a more informed, resilient, and secure online environment.

The data presented originates from Cloudflare Radar, a free tool providing global trends and insights across the Internet. Powered by data from Cloudflare’s expansive global network (spanning 300+ cities in 100+ countries) and aggregated, anonymized data from Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 public DNS Resolver, Radar offers a fast and private means of Internet browsing.

For further details on Cloudflare’s Year in Review, explore the following resources: