During the holidays, especially in February and March, Russian online retail faced a sharp increase in cyberattacks. According to Curator, a company that develops solutions for protection against network cyberattacks, bot activity increased by 15-20% during this period compared to the usual level.
The main threat came from parser bots — automated programs designed to collect data from websites, such as prices, product range, discounts, and availability information. Such bots are often used by competitors to study pricing policies or by other attackers to create load on websites and slow them down.
During the holidays, about 23.9 million bots were blocked on retailers' resources, which is 15% more than the average for February. Stores selling sports goods and leisure goods showed particularly high activity, with about 10 million parsing attempts recorded, which is 20% higher than usual.
Small companies with limited resources to protect themselves from such attacks are particularly vulnerable during such periods. Cyberattacks on online stores can create a significant load on servers, disrupt websites, make purchases difficult, and reduce overall sales efficiency.
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