\nThe Internet plays a central role in both our personal and professional lives, and this year marked a notable shift in how much society depends on it\u2014driven by significant growth and major technological changes. Global Internet traffic ballooned by 19% year-over-year, and we saw substantial changes and advanced capabilities introduced to AI. At the same time, there were major milestones in security: post-quantum encryption now secures 52% of all human traffic to ensure Internet users are protected from future threats. However, this growth also brought challenges, with a dramatic escalation in cyber warfare leading to more than 25 record-breaking DDoS attacks.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe Internet isn’t just changing, it’s being fundamentally rewired. From AI, to more creative and sophisticated threat actors, every day is different. While we celebrated several Internet milestones this year, we also blocked attacks that redefined what ‘scale’ means, and witnessed the traditional business model of online content creation face stark challenges,\u201d said Matthew Prince, CEO and co-founder at Cloudflare. \u201cWith a huge percentage of the Internet running through Cloudflare\u2019s network every second of every day, we believe we have a unique responsibility to help navigate these changes and build a better Internet for everyone.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\nCloudflare\u2019s Year in Review shares key data insights about the changing Internet landscape to help keep the online world more informed, resilient, and secure. Top highlights of 2025 include:\n<\/p>\n
- \n
- Google and Meta\u2019s Reign Continues at the Top: <\/b>Google and Facebook (now Meta) locked in their positions as the two most popular Internet services globally for the fourth consecutive year, while ChatGPT held onto the number one spot in the booming Generative AI category.\n<\/li>\n
- The AI Bot Wars Heat Up with a Single Dominant Player: <\/b>Google’s crawling bot dwarfed activity from all other leading AI bots, making it the single biggest source of automated Internet traffic.\n<\/li>\n
- Cybercriminals Pivot to New Vulnerable Targets:<\/b> For the first time, civil society and non-profit organizations became the most attacked sector, likely due to the sensitive nature and potential financial value of their user data.\n<\/li>\n
- Governments Lead as the Top Cause of Major Outages: <\/b>Nearly half of all major Internet disruptions observed globally were triggered by government actions, even as outages caused by cable cuts dropped nearly 50% and those linked to power failures doubled.\n<\/li>\n
- Europe Leads the World in Internet Speed and Quality:<\/b> European countries dominated global connectivity metrics, achieving the highest average download speeds (all above 200 Mbps), with Spain securing the top spot worldwide for overall Internet quality.\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\nThis data comes from Cloudflare Radar<\/a>, a free tool that lets anyone view global trends and insights across the Internet. Radar is powered by data from Cloudflare\u2019s global network<\/a> (one of the world\u2019s largest, spanning 330+ cities in 120+ countries) and aggregated and anonymized data from Cloudflare\u2019s 1.1.1.1 public DNS Resolver<\/a>, widely used as a fast and private way to browse the Internet.\n<\/p>\n
\nTo learn more about Cloudflare\u2019s Year in Review, please check out the resources below:\n<\/p>\n
- \n
- \nBlog: Cloudflare 2025 Year in Review<\/a><\/li>\n
- \nBlog: Most Popular Internet Services 2025<\/a><\/li>\n
- 2025 Year in Review Microsite<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
About Cloudflare<\/b><\/p>\n
\nCloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET) is the leading connectivity cloud company. It empowers organizations to make their employees, applications and networks faster and more secure everywhere, while reducing complexity and cost. Cloudflare\u2019s connectivity cloud delivers the most full-featured, unified platform of cloud-native products and developer tools, so any organization can gain the control they need to work, develop, and accelerate their business.\n<\/p>\n
\nPowered by one of the world\u2019s largest and most interconnected networks, Cloudflare blocks billions of threats online for its customers every day. It is trusted by millions of organizations \u2013 from the largest brands to entrepreneurs and small businesses to nonprofits, humanitarian groups, and governments across the globe.\n<\/p>\n
\nLearn more about Cloudflare\u2019s connectivity cloud at cloudflare.com\/connectivity-cloud<\/a>. Learn more about the latest Internet trends and insights at https:\/\/radar.cloudflare.com<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n
\nFollow us: Blog<\/a> | X<\/a> | LinkedIn<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n
Forward-Looking Statements<\/b><\/p>\n
\nThis press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as \u201cmay,\u201d \u201cwill,\u201d \u201cshould,\u201d \u201cexpect,\u201d \u201cexplore,\u201d \u201cplan,\u201d \u201canticipate,\u201d \u201ccould,\u201d \u201cintend,\u201d \u201ctarget,\u201d \u201cproject,\u201d \u201ccontemplate,\u201d \u201cbelieve,\u201d \u201cestimate,\u201d \u201cpredict,\u201d \u201cpotential,\u201d or \u201ccontinue,\u201d or the negative of these words, or other similar terms or expressions that concern Cloudflare\u2019s expectations, strategy, plans, or intentions. However, not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Forward-looking statements expressed or implied in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Cloudflare\u2019s plans and objectives for Cloudflare Radar, Cloudflare\u2019s global network, and Cloudflare\u2019s products and technology, Cloudflare\u2019s technological development, future operations, growth, initiatives, or strategies, and comments made by Cloudflare\u2019s CEO. Actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including but not limited to, risks detailed in Cloudflare\u2019s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including Cloudflare\u2019s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on October 30, 2025 as well as other filings that Cloudflare may make from time to time with the SEC.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe forward-looking statements made in this press release relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. Cloudflare undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. Cloudflare may not actually achieve the plans, intentions, or expectations disclosed in Cloudflare\u2019s forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on Cloudflare\u2019s forward-looking statements.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u00a9 2025 Cloudflare, Inc. All rights reserved. Cloudflare, the Cloudflare logo, and other Cloudflare marks are trademarks and\/or registered trademarks of Cloudflare, Inc. in the U.S. and other jurisdictions. All other marks and names referenced herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
View source version on businesswire.com: <\/span>https:\/\/www.businesswire.com\/news\/home\/20251215179291\/en\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\nCloudflare, Inc.
\n
Daniella Vallurupalli
\n
Vice President, Head of Global Communications
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press@cloudflare.com<\/a><\/p>\nKEYWORDS:<\/b> California United States United Kingdom Germany Singapore Southeast Asia Ireland North America Asia Pacific Europe<\/p>\n
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:<\/b> Technology Security Professional Services Software Networks Internet Data Analytics Data Management Artificial Intelligence<\/p>\n
- \nBlog: Most Popular Internet Services 2025<\/a><\/li>\n
- The AI Bot Wars Heat Up with a Single Dominant Player: <\/b>Google’s crawling bot dwarfed activity from all other leading AI bots, making it the single biggest source of automated Internet traffic.\n<\/li>\n
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