Cloudflare launches Adaptive Intelligence to combat automated bot attacks

Cloudflare has launched Adaptive Intelligence, a continuous detection engine integrated into its Bot Management platform. The system is designed to counter the rising threat of automated cyberattacks, which have become cheaper and easier to execute due to advancements in generative AI and low-cost automation tools.

Unlike traditional security models that rely on static rules and periodic manual updates, Adaptive Intelligence uses machine learning to analyze meta-signals from trillions of daily requests across Cloudflare’s global network. This allows the system to autonomously generate short-lived, rotating, and hyper-targeted security rules in real time. By constantly shifting its defensive posture, the technology aims to create a ‘moving target’ that makes it difficult for attackers to study, map, or bypass the system without incurring significant time and financial costs.

The engine is specifically built to detect sophisticated, low-and-slow attacks such as credential stuffing and web scraping. It combines global edge telemetry with browser-level session behavior to distinguish between malicious bots and legitimate users, minimizing the risk of false positives that could disrupt normal customer experiences.