Between mid-December and the end of December, disturbances in online retail infrastructure can surge significantly. According to a StormWall press service briefing, the volume of DDoS attacks against stores and other retail platforms in Russia may triple compared with the month’s early period. The message from StormWall stresses that this time frame coincides with heightened shopping activity as communities prepare for holiday festivities, presenting hackers with a lucrative window to threaten extortion or blackmail through site disruption.
The company points out that the holiday season drives intense competition among retailers. That competitive environment, combined with increased shopper demand, creates incentives for cybercriminals to target e-commerce sites with high-volume traffic attacks aimed at taking sites offline. StormWall notes that this seasonal pattern has been observed in past years and appears to be growing more pronounced with each cycle. For instance, during the latter half of December in the previous year, the number of attacks on online stores in Russia rose far more sharply than in the early portion of the month, signaling a notable seasonal spike in threat activity.
Industry experts emphasize that the most vulnerable victims during the New Year period are often smaller online retailers that have not implemented robust threat protection. The surge in attack attempts can overwhelm limited security measures, leaving these businesses exposed to downtime, reputational harm, and revenue loss during a critical sales window.
Beyond direct site outages, there is a realistic likelihood of elevated bot traffic ahead of the holidays. Automated programs can perform a range of disruptive actions, including bulk purchases or other activities that render shopping experiences frustrating or unusable for legitimate customers. Such bot-driven behavior compounds the challenge for retailers trying to fulfill genuine demand during peak season.
Reports from users of large social platforms worldwide have noted widespread service interruptions around peak shopping times. While these interruptions can reflect a mix of technical issues and coordinated attempts, the core takeaway remains clear: the holiday season draws heightened attention from malicious actors, and businesses of all sizes should prepare accordingly.