Attacks on websites and applications of Russian companies increasingly begin not with direct hacking, but with quiet reconnaissance. In the first half of the year, specialists recorded 849.7 million attacks on the application layer of infrastructure — 27% more than a year earlier, Vedomosti writes, citing research by WMX and Servicepipe.
First, attackers scan the resource and check how the protection reacts. This way they look for weaknesses and determine the thresholds for security systems to trigger. The number of automated scans has doubled over the year.
After reconnaissance, the main phase begins — for example, a DDoS attack. Researchers recorded attacks with a capacity of over 2 Tbit/s, and the number of attacks with an intensity of more than 100 Gbit/s increased fivefold.
AI-based tools helped speed up preparation. They allow for faster infrastructure analysis and lower the entry barrier for complex scenarios that previously required serious technical training.
The growth of multi-stage attacks was confirmed by Kaspersky Lab, RED Security, Garda, and Elvis-plus. For businesses, this means that protection now needs to notice not only the attack itself, but also the preparation for it — while the hacker is still "probing" the system.