Data on blocked Bot attacks in the past 3 years

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.24.040950

I note you seek access to the following information:

In the past 3 years (from December to November), how many bot attacks has your department blocked, and how much has your department paid for Google reCAPTCHA licences?

E.g.

December 2023 – November 2024:
- 100,000 bot attacks blocked
- £50,000 spent on Google reCAPTCHA licences

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

I have been informed that the MPS logging capability only holds information for the last three months of partial data. Therefore, we have used the last months worth of data and multiplied this for one year, please see the below.

Last 30 days

3.07 million requests from a non-verified bot
978.46 thousand requests with a non-mozilla-compatible browser

Total for the month 4,048,460

X 12 for a yearly total – 48,581,520

No costs have been paid for CAPTCHA to date.