Today, Akamai Technologies published new data on the incidence of malicious botnet attacks in Asia during the holiday season.
According to the data, cyberattacks in China increased by 15% during the Lunar New Year in February 2022, indicating that cybercriminals are aggressively trying to take advantage of customers during high-traffic moments.
The increase in botnet attacks is part of a trend that began with Singles Day, a Chinese eCommerce festival in November 2021, when botnet attacks tripled. Despite gradually falling after that, attack traffic remained quite high through the end of the year before spiking again around the Lunar New Year with the increase in retail traffic. The opening of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing coincided with the Lunar New Year this year, boosting online sales and making the period more appealing to attackers.
Malicious actors operate all year, but the increased volume of traffic around the holidays makes it easier for them to mask their attacks. Customers are also more inclined to update their online shopping profiles with current credit card information and credentials at this time, making them a more lucrative target for hackers.
As traffic rises, attackers ramp up the number of their attacks, which include scraping data, draining customer accounts, damaging site functionality and holding encrypted data ransom – all of which come at a high cost to a business.
Dr Boaz Gelbord, Akamai’s Chief Security Officer (CSO), said “Holidays represent a huge opportunity for attackers thanks to increased online activity and security teams stretched thin,”
“APAC presents a particularly enticing opportunity for successful cyberattacks because the sheer volume of traffic gives attackers the opportunity to gain foothold more easily and operate freely without timely mitigation. Akamai works with customers to develop strategies that take into account complex attack patterns and behaviors of malicious bots during the holidays and beyond to protect brands and customer loyalty.”
Around the Gregorian New Year in early January 2022, Akamai research found a 150% surge in malicious botnet activity in the Japanese retail sector. The attacks continued for several weeks after the holiday, following a pattern that was remarkably comparable to that seen in China.
While there is a similar spike in traffic over the end-of-year holidays in EMEA and the US, China and Japan present a particularly appealing possibility for successful cyberattacks due to the sheer volume of traffic: retailers and eCommerce here service some of the world’s largest populations.