Cloudflare, Inc., the company dedicated to fostering a safer, faster, and more dependable Internet, has announced a significant expansion in its partnership with IBM Cloud Internet Services (CIS). This collaboration, fueled by Cloudflare, now encompasses the integration of Cloudflare Bot Management into the CIS offerings, aimed at providing robust defense against the escalating threat posed by malicious bot traffic targeting enterprises on the Enterprise Premier Plan.
The partnership between Cloudflare and IBM Cloud, which commenced in 2018, has led to the seamless infusion of Cloudflare’s application security and performance capabilities into IBM Cloud through CIS. This strategic move empowers customers to safeguard their web and Internet applications against cyber threats, encompassing DDoS attacks and data breaches, while concurrently enhancing performance and reliability through load balancing, optimized routing, caching, and data exchange – a comprehensive suite of services offered by CIS.
The bolstered inclusion of Cloudflare Bot Management responds to the persistently escalating challenge of detrimental bots that exploit resources and besiege organizations. According to reputable global research and advisory firm Forrester Research, these malicious bots now account for at least a quarter of total Internet traffic. Moreover, the evolution of bot management extends beyond the confines of ad fraud, identity fraud, or application security, with the imperative to cater to a diverse array of customer personas, including those from security, marketing, e-commerce, fraud prevention, customer experience, and executive teams. Modern bot management tools are mandated to stay agile against ever-evolving attacks, furnish a range of ready-made and customizable reports, and ensure seamless business transactions for end customers with minimal friction.
In light of the escalating sophistication of malicious bot attacks and the increasing burdens associated with manual countermeasures, a dynamic and adaptive solution is indispensable for enterprises with publicly accessible workloads. Cloudflare Bot Management equips businesses with the necessary armor to thwart targeted abuses such as credential stuffing, inventory hoarding, carding abuse, and content scraping. This all-encompassing bot detection and mitigation offering ensures comprehensive protection. The newly introduced Cloudflare Bot Management feature is now accessible to all IBM Cloud CIS customers holding an Enterprise Premier Plan.
Matt Harrell, Global Head of Channels and Alliances at Cloudflare, emphasizes the paramount significance of defending businesses from the escalating wave of malicious activities. He underscores how these activities can cripple legitimate customer interactions, adversely impacting revenues and potentially leading to data breaches. Harrell underscores that this endeavor is a pivotal step in safeguarding operations at a critical level.
Nataraj Nagaratnam, Fellow, CTO, Cloud Security at IBM, underscores the evolving threat landscape and the necessity to adapt offerings to enhance client cyber resiliency. Both IBM and Cloudflare share a common mission – delivering solutions that effectively counter security threats without compromising Internet speed or hampering business innovation. The focus remains on furnishing clients with an integrated solution that not only offers unparalleled protection but also augments performance.
1. Effective Malicious Bot Identification via Machine Learning: Cloudflare Bot Management leverages machine learning, processing hundreds of billions of requests daily, to assign a bot score to each network request. This automated process filters out malicious activities such as content scraping, site crawling, inventory hoarding, and credit card stuffing.
2. In-depth Behavioral Analysis of Internet Traffic: By scrutinizing behavior patterns and identifying anomalies across an organization’s Internet properties, Cloudflare Bot Management offers an advanced layer of business insights.
3. Risk Reduction through Fingerprinting: Cloudflare’s utilization of fingerprinting data from a diverse array of Internet properties ensures precise bot classification without compromising user privacy.
The fruitful collaboration between Cloudflare and IBM CIS since 2018 has been instrumental in addressing critical Internet security challenges while concurrently enhancing the performance and dependability of business applications. CIS has garnered a diverse clientele spanning various industries, regions, and specialized groups, each benefiting from the distinctive service offerings.
Davide Sarais, IT Lead at Liquid Reply, underscores the significance of support in combatting the evolving threat landscape. He highlights how IBM Cloud Internet Services, in collaboration with Cloudflare, has enabled Liquid Reply to uphold its compliance posture. Sarais lauds the exciting advancements introduced through this collaboration, which are poised to elevate security standards to new heights.
Dave Giunta, VP of Engineering at Home Chef, shares his firsthand experience, attesting to the tangible improvements in page load times even as site traffic surged. Cloudflare Bot Management played a pivotal role in achieving this feat, a testament to its efficacy.
In essence, the partnership between Cloudflare and IBM Cloud Internet Services ushers in a new era of robust protection against malicious bot activities, reinforcing the cyber resilience of enterprises while ensuring optimal performance and customer experience.
