How Does Open-Source Code Influence the Development of Bots?

When people think of the word ‘bots’, they often think of it in negative terms. Bots, of course, are one of the biggest threats to companies in 2025, with security incidents involving bots rising by 88% last year alone. But if you’re running a business, there are two types of bots you should know about: malicious bots and beneficial bots. 

While malicious bots are often associated with cyberattacks, fraud, and data theft, beneficial bots can be powerful tools to fight against them, enhancing your cybersecurity and working to automate protection across the board. Both are developed and proliferated by the same thing: open-source code. 

Open-Source Code Influencing the Development of Bots

Looking specifically at Linux for a moment, one of the first things to know about this system is that it’s completely free, unlike Windows or macOS, which require a paid license. Part of the reason for this is because it’s open source, which means users can modify, distribute, and customise the Linux operating system as and when it’s needed. 

Open source software, of course, has a number of benefits, including stability, reliability, and security – all of which are traits that have defined Linux and Unix systems for years, and have also been utilised in the world of bot creation and moderation. 

In this landscape, collaboration is key. From an ethical side of things, there are many instances where companies will formulate enhanced security bots, and then release that code to assist developers in the same field. 

Approximately two and a half years ago, for instance, the data science team behind DataDome.co – one of the leading cybersecurity companies specialising in bot detection – open-sourced ‘Sliceline’, a machine learning package designed for model debugging, which subsequently helped developers to analyse and improve their own machine learning models, thereby advancing the field of AI-driven cybersecurity.

But that’s not to say open-source code is all-round a positive thing. The same open-source frameworks that developers use to enhance bot protection are, of course, also accessible to cybercriminals, who can then modify and deploy them for their own malicious purposes. Bots designed for credential stuffing, web scraping, and DDoS attacks, for instance, can all be created using open-source tools, so this dual-use nature highlights a significant challenge in the cybersecurity space.

Keeping Open-Source a Force for Good

Thankfully, there are many things being done to stop malicious criminals from exploiting open-source code, with many companies adopting a multi-layered approach. The first is the strengthening of licensing and terms of use. 

At one point in time, open-source software, including Linux, was largely unrestricted, allowing anyone to access and redistribute code without much IT compliance or oversight. 

However, as the risks of misuse have become more apparent, especially with the rise of malicious bot activities, companies and open-source communities have been strengthening their licensing agreements, ensuring that everyone using the code must comply with ethical standards – something that is particularly important for Linux, which powers everything from personal computers to enterprise servers, making security and responsible use a top priority.

To give an example, a company can choose to apply for a licence that restricts the use of the software in unauthorised data collection, or in systems that may cause harm to users. Legal consequences for violating these terms are then imposed to deter any misuse. As well as this, more developers and users of open-source code are being trained about the potential misuse of tools, helping to foster a more responsible community. 

Over the last few years, a number of workshops, certifications, and online courses have been made available to increase threat intelligence, and spread awareness of the risks of malicious actors, providing the best practices for securing APIs, implementing rate limits, and designing open-source code that operates within ethical boundaries. 

It’s also worth noting that, because bot development has become far more advanced in recent years, bot detection has similarly improved. Looking back at DataDome for a moment, this is a company that prioritises machine learning and AI to detect bot activities, utilising open-source machine learning models to create advanced detection systems that learn from malicious bots, and continuously improve when monitoring traffic. 

This doesn’t mean the threat of malicious bots is over, of course, but it does help companies to identify suspicious behaviours more effectively – and provide ongoing updates to stay ahead of cybercriminals – which helps to mitigate the negatives of open-source code influencing bad bot development.

Conclusion

The question of open-source code influencing the development of bots is an intricate one, but as a whole, it has opened up the cybersecurity landscape to make it easy for anyone to protect themselves. Developers with limited coding expertise, for instance, can modify existing open-source bot frameworks to perform certain tasks, which essentially lowers the barriers to entry and fosters more growth – especially in the AI bot-detection field. 

But it is a double-edged sword. The important thing for any company in 2025 is to recognise which bots are a force for good, and make sure they implement them with the appropriate solutions. Malicious bots are always going to be an issue, and so long as the security landscape is evolving, the threat landscape will be evolving too. This is why it’s so important to protect yourself, and make sure you have all the defences in place to fight new dangers.

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