Queue-it & Akamai launch "Hype Event Protection" to stop bots from hijacking high-demand sales

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Oct. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Queue-it, the leading provider of virtual waiting room services, and Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects business online, today announce the launch of Hype Event Protection. The new joint solution delivers advanced bot protection during high-demand, limited-inventory "hype events" like product drops, concert ticket sales, collectible releases, and brand collaborations.

Hype events are magnets for bots, which can outnumber genuine customers by 20 to 1. Automated scripts exploit speed and scale to scoop up inventory, reselling it on secondary markets at inflated prices. Loyal customers lose out, and organizations pay the price through eroded trust and higher operational costs. 

Hype Event Protection combines the robust detection of Akamai Bot Manager with the powerful traffic management of Queue-it's virtual waiting room to remove bots' two biggest advantages: speed and scale. Queue-it controls traffic into the sale, giving Akamai more time and data to identify malicious visitors. When the sale opens, customers are randomized and placed in the online queue. At that point, bots are blocked or forced to re-join at the end of the line. By delaying mitigation until it's too late for bots to retool, the solution slams the door on automated abuse—delivering fairer events, reduced load, and faster access for genuine visitors.

One of Europe's largest ticketing providers used Hype Event Protection for several onsales in August 2025. In one sale alone, Hype Event Protection mitigated over 2 million bots, or 98% of all traffic, giving real fans a 50x higher chance of getting their hands on tickets.

"High-demand events have become a prime target for sophisticated bots, putting fairness, customer trust, and brand reputation at risk," said Patrick Sullivan, Chief Technology Officer of Security Strategy at Akamai. "By integrating Akamai Bot Manager with Queue-it's virtual waiting room, Hype Event Protection delivers a powerful new defense for organizations that need to protect the integrity of their biggest moments online."

Queue-it CEO Jesper Essendrop adds, "For years now, we've seen just how persistent and pervasive the threat of bad bots is to organizations running high-demand events. With Hype Event Protection, we're excited to go to market with a multi-layered approach that combines the strength of two best-in-class solutions in Akamai and Queue-it. It brings us a step further in our mission to help organizations build trust by ensuring fair, reliable, and transparent online experiences at every touchpoint."

In addition to sophisticated bot mitigation, the control provided by Hype Event Protection enables organizations to maintain site performance in the face of massive bot-driven traffic spikes, preventing crashes, slowdowns, and overselling and ensuring revenue capture on mission-critical days.

Hype Event Protection is available to organizations using Akamai's Bot Manager and Queue-it's virtual waiting room. To find out more about the solution, visit https://queue-it.com/blog/hype-event-protection-waiting-room/

About Queue-it

Queue-it is the leading developer of virtual waiting room services, empowering 1,000+ organizations worldwide to build and nurture trust with 30+ billion visitors annually by delivering reliable, fair, and transparent online experiences. Queue-it helps some of the world's biggest governments, retailers, and ticketing companies to capitalize on peak traffic events by preventing website crashes, blocking bots, and mitigating load-induced errors such as overselling. Queue-it is headquartered in Denmark with offices in the U.S., Australia, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. For more information, please visit https://queue-it.com/.

About Akamai

Akamai is the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects business online. Our market-leading security solutions, superior threat intelligence, and global operations team provide defense in depth to safeguard enterprise data and applications everywhere. Akamai's full-stack cloud computing solutions deliver performance and affordability on the world's most distributed platform. Global enterprises trust Akamai to provide the industry-leading reliability, scale, and expertise they need to grow their business with confidence. Learn more at akamai.com and akamai.com/blog, or follow Akamai Technologies on X and LinkedIn.

Contacts:

Malou Toft
CRO, Queue-it
+45 25 23 03 00
madt@queue-it.com

Chris Nicholson
Akamai Media Relations
+1.508.517.3703
cnichols@akamai.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2787767/Akamai_x_Queue_it_Logo.jpg