Cloudflare's Impact Report for 2025 reveals how elections, journalism, and nonprofits faced rising online threats

Cloudflare has published its fifth annual Impact Report, outlining how its network and security services have been used to support elections, independent media, and nonprofit organizations while also addressing environmental commitments. The report explains why these efforts matter as cyberattacks, automation, and AI-driven traffic continue to reshape how public interest services operate online.

The Impact Report follows Cloudflare’s recent 2025 Radar Year in Review, the sixth annual report examining broad trends in internet traffic, security, and technology adoption across its global network. That earlier analysis used aggregated data from web requests, bots, and connectivity signals to show how automation, encryption changes, and attacks shaped online services worldwide. The new report narrows the focus to how those trends affected democratic institutions, journalism, and other vulnerable groups.

Cloudflare protects the public interests

A large portion of Cloudflare's report centers on the volume and persistence of attacks aimed at public interest websites. Through Project Galileo, Cloudflare explains how more than 3,000 internet properties belonging to journalists, human rights defenders, and humanitarian organizations received protection. These organizations operate across more than 120 countries and faced an average of 9.9 billion -- yes billion -- cyberattacks per month, with independent news outlets absorbing roughly 290 million attacks per day.

Pressure from automated systems and AI crawlers also features prominently in the report which describes how Bot Management and AI Crawl Control tools were added to the free service package offered through Project Galileo. These controls are intended to give nonprofits and independent media more visibility into how automated systems access their content, alongside training programs designed to help publishers adapt to AI-driven discovery and reuse.

Election infrastructure security forms another major section of the report. Cloudflare details how its Athenian Project expanded to protect 441 state and local government internet properties tied to election systems. During a recent election period, the service blocked 200 million distributed denial-of-service attacks across 33 US states and seven countries. The report also covers Cloudflare's work in supporting parliamentary elections in Moldova during a period marked by sustained cyber activity targeting government institutions.

Environmental commitments are addressed in the context of long-term network operations. Cloudflare completed efforts to offset or remove emissions associated with powering its network from launch through its first renewable energy purchase in 2018. This involved investments covering approximately 31,000 metric tons of CO2e.

The document also discusses workforce initiatives linked to future technology needs. Cloudflare plans to hire 1,111 interns over the course of 2026 (a fun nod to its 1.1.1.1 public DNS resolver), with an emphasis on applied AI skills across different roles. The goal is to support a wider and more diverse pipeline of technical talent as AI becomes more embedded in everyday infrastructure.

“Our mission -- to help build a better Internet -- is the driving force behind everything we do,” said Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare. “In 2025, we took critical steps to further that mission by making our products free and accessible to those who need them most, from journalists facing attacks to startups and developers around the world working on the next generation of AI-native applications. A principled, accessible, and sustainable Internet is not just a goal; it's our responsibility."

Across all of its Impact programs, Cloudflare reports providing more than $19 million in donated products and services over the year. Taken together with the findings in its Radar analysis, the Impact Report shows how online threats and automation continue to evolve.

You can download the full 2025 Impact Report now.

What do you think about Cloudflare’s approach to security, AI access, and public interest programs? Let us know in the comments.