Federal agencies are no strangers to cyber threats, but the complexity and frequency of bot attacks have escalated dramatically. A recent incident encountered by one of our customers highlights how even with industry-leading cloud infrastructure and content delivery networks, malicious actors are finding new ways to break through. By sharing this story and strategies that worked, we hope to arm federal IT and security professionals with actionable insights to stay ahead of evolving threats.
The Evolving Threat Landscape
Cyber adversaries today are no longer hobbyists; they’re often well-funded, well-organized, and in some cases, state-sponsored. As described by TechRadar, one such campaign known as RoundPress was attributed to Russian state-backed actors. These attackers exploited vulnerabilities in webmail platforms to infiltrate governments and military agencies across the globe.
Meanwhile the use of generative AI has opened a new front in cyber deception. According to a report by Reuters, the FBI recently warned that malicious actors are using AI-generated audio and video to impersonate senior US officials, an alarming development aimed at phishing sensitive information from government personnel.
Case Study: A Federal Agency’s Strategic Response
One of the agencies we support recently faced a surge in traffic to their public-facing site. At first glance, the traffic appeared random, but a closer look revealed something more nefarious.
Traffic logs showed a flood of requests from a narrow set of IP addresses, linked to U.S.-based cloud infrastructure. The attackers had deployed a sophisticated disguise: each request masqueraded as a different device by generating thousands of randomized user-agent strings, many completely fabricated combinations of device types and browser versions that don’t exist in the real world. This digital camouflage was specifically engineered to slip past traditional security filters that rely on identifying known bot signatures. It’s a textbook advanced bot attack: rapid, obfuscated, and evasive.
Recognizing that IP-based blocking would be ineffective against this type of attack where IP addresses can be rapidly rotated, the team took a different approach. Through careful analysis, they identified the underlying patterns within the seemingly random user-agent strings discovering that despite thousands of variations, the attackers were actually using a limited set of device types and browser versions mixed together. Armed with this insight, they customized the Akamai Site Shield configuration to detect these specific patterns in the malformed user-agent strings, successfully filtering out malicious traffic while maintaining access for legitimate users.
The Enduring Threat of DDoS: Old Tactics, New Tricks
While bot attacks are becoming more nuanced and evasive, they are also being deployed in more traditional ways such as Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks. In these scenarios, large networks of compromised devices, known as botnets, are coordinated to flood systems with traffic in an attempt to exhaust bandwidth, crash applications, or take services offline. What makes today’s DDoS attacks harder to detect is the sophistication of the bots themselves. Rather than sending repetitive or obvious traffic, these bots mimic legitimate users by rotating IP addresses, randomizing payloads, and encrypting traffic to avoid detection. In some cases, attackers even use reputable cloud infrastructure to deliver attacks, making it difficult to distinguish malicious activity from genuine usage. DDoS is no longer just a blunt instrument; it has evolved into a calculated tactic that can serve as a smokescreen for more targeted intrusions elsewhere in the environment. Against this backdrop of escalating threats, federal agencies need to modernize their defensive posture with a multi-layered approach.
Strategies Federal Agencies Can Use
- Embrace Zero Trust Architecture:
Traditional perimeter-based security models are no longer sufficient in today’s threat environment. Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) has emerged as a powerful framework that assumes no actor (internal or external) should be inherently trusted. For federal agencies, this means verifying every connection and continuously validating user identities, device integrity, and access permissions before granting access to resources.
Implementing Zero Trust at scale requires a shift in mindset and tooling. Agencies should prioritize identity and access management (IAM), implement network micro-segmentation, and leverage endpoint detection and response (EDR) technologies. Adopting this approach reduces lateral movement within networks and helps contain breaches before they escalate, aligning with federal cybersecurity mandates like Executive Order 14028.
- Implement Bot Management Tools:
Not all bots are malicious. Some, like search engine crawlers or page-loading bots used by large language models (LLMs), serve useful purposes. These types of automated traffic, while often detected as bots, are legitimate and should be allowed through.
But bad bots can wreak havoc: scraping sensitive content, executing credential-stuffing attacks, or overloading systems with fake traffic. These bots have become increasingly sophisticated, often mimicking legitimate users by rotating IP addresses, randomizing user-agent strings, or operating through residential proxies to evade detection.
Bot management tools use behavior analysis, machine learning, and fingerprinting techniques to detect and mitigate unwanted traffic in real time. Federal agencies should evaluate solutions that can distinguish between helpful and harmful bots, adapt to evolving evasion tactics, and preserve a seamless experience for legitimate users. The goal isn’t to block everything; it’s to know what’s coming through the door.
- Monitor Continuously and Share Threat Intelligence:
Cybersecurity isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it operation. Agencies must monitor their networks, applications, and endpoints continuously to detect anomalies and respond swiftly. Tools like Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platforms and Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) systems allow real-time visibility and correlation across complex environments.
Equally important is collaboration. As legacy programs like CISA’s EINSTEIN are phased out, agencies are turning to more modern, dynamic approaches such as the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program. CDM provides tools for real-time asset visibility, vulnerability management, and threat response, offering agencies a more flexible and proactive defense model.
Agencies can also strengthen their resilience by engaging with public-private partnerships like the Information Technology Sector Coordinating Council (IT-SCC), which fosters information sharing and cybersecurity best practices. Looking ahead, CISA’s development of the Joint Collaborative Environment (JCE) aims to further enhance collective defense through shared situational awareness and threat intelligence. As attacks grow more sophisticated, proactive monitoring and coordinated defense remain essential pillars of national cyber resilience.
- Fortify your APIs:
API’s are the connective tissue of modern government digital services, and that makes them a high-value target for adversaries. Attackers increasingly exploit vulnerable or forgotten APIs to bypass front-end protections, exfiltrate data, or inject malicious commands. The risk is especially high with “rogue APIs” (interfaces that are unmonitored, deprecated, or created outside of centralized governance processes).
Recent insights from the DoD Modernization Exchange underscored the need for full API visibility and governance across the enterprise. Whether using commercial API gateways or internal tooling, agencies must inventory all APIs, enforce consistent security policies, and monitor behavior for unusual access patterns. Rate limiting, token validation, and real-time analytics can help prevent abuse. API governance should be treated with the same urgency as endpoint and network security.
Conclusion
Sophisticated bot attacks aren’t going away; but with smarter tools, collaborative threat sharing, and adaptive defense strategies, federal agencies can outpace even the most advanced adversaries. The key is to move beyond static defenses and adopt agile, behavior-based approaches that evolve with the threat landscape.
When the bots come knocking, you don’t need to panic. You just need to be prepared.
About Mobomo, LLC
Mobomo, a private company headquartered in the D.C. metro area, is a CMMI Dev Level 3, ISO 9001:2015, and CMMC Level 1 provider of digital transformation system integration services. A premier provider of mobile, web, infrastructure, and cloud applications to federal agencies and large enterprises, Mobomo combines leading-edge technology with human-centered design and strategy to craft next generation digital experience. From private sector companies to government agencies, we have amassed deep expertise helping our clients enhance and expand their existing web and mobile suite. Interested in learning more about Mobomo? Take a tour of our capabilities, our portfolio of work, the team members who make our clients look so fantastic, and feel free to reach out with any questions you might have.
