Netacea, the bot mitigation specialist, has launched a global partner programme with its sights set on expanding its services and operations.

The company is working with managed security and managed services providers to implement an entry level product with basic protection across their platforms.

The partnership gives businesses the ability to protect their customers from malicious bots without the need for training or integration, according to Netacea.

The programme will see Netacea work with providers that are looking to offer a more complete security solution, with the partner acting as referrer while Netacea provides the technology and works directly with the customer to implement the solution.

Unlike a reseller relationship, there will be no expectation on the provider to offer support, beyond basic first-line tech support if appropriate, the company states.

This approach to partnerships will help give Netacea a global reach and meet the expectations of different customers around the world, according to the company.

The drive behind Netacea's partner programme is the belief that many customers don't want to take on security providers piecemeal but want their provider to take care of everything.

Meanwhile general security providers need to work with specialists to satisfy specific vertical demands but don't want to spend time integrating this into their main offering.

By building a programme that is part referral, part partnership, Netacea is offering opportunities to upsell and increase revenue, without the added burden of training and integration.

Netacea CTO Andy Still says, “The bot mitigation we offer is increasingly necessary in many sectors as businesses find that simple rules-based solutions are no longer sophisticated enough to keep out attackers.

"But bot mitigation needs to be considered as a fundamental part of a web security strategy. It makes sense for us to work with providers that have established relationships were not looking to replace them, but supplement what they are already offering.

Recent research released by Netacea found that many businesses, while aware of the problem of bots, underestimate the problem.

Businesses revealed that around 15% of their web application resources were taken up by bots but with over half of web traffic today generated by bots, that meant that many were unaware of a great deal of the bot traffic on their sites.

Bots can be used to takeover customer accounts, check the validity of stolen credit card details, scrape content from sites and more.

While simple rules and web application firewalls can limit the most basic attacks, more sophisticated bots are increasingly common and can easily get around these rules.

Netacea's approach works by accurately identifying bots and their intent, and prioritising human users, the company states.