Which sectors were most attacked by hackers in 2024

In 2024, Russia recorded a significant increase in DDoS attacks, which were aimed at important sectors of the economy. Experts from StormWall analyzed incidents that occurred in January-October 2024 and concluded that the total number of attacks increased by 86% compared to the same period last year, Gazeta.Ru reports.

The majority of attacks (63%) were politically motivated, while commercial attacks accounted for 26%. In addition, 10% of incidents were related to increased competition in cyberspace, and 1% to hooliganism.

According to Stormwall research, the most attacked sectors from January to October 2024 were telecommunications (31% of total attacks), the state sector (16%) and online retail (14%).

Hackers aimed to disrupt the work of telecommunications companies so that they could not provide services to Russian businesses. Recently, attackers have been particularly frequent in attacking regional telecommunications companies, as their attacks have been the most effective.

The state sector has also been under constant threat, especially the online resources of regional government organizations, which have suffered the most from DDoS attacks. In addition, in 2024, attacks on the online retail industry increased during holidays, discount seasons or important social events.

Among other things, DDoS attacks were also detected in other industries: entertainment (9%), finance (8%), education (7%), energy (5%), IT (4%), manufacturing (3%), logistics (2%), and other industries (1%).

StormWall experts found that this year there was a significant increase in DDoS attacks on certain industries. The number of attacks on telecommunications companies increased by 173% from January to October 2024, the education sector by 64%, and online retail by 43% compared to the same period last year. The increase in attacks on the telecommunications sector is the most significant, which indicates that hackers have chosen it as a primary target this year.

Experts also noted a slight increase in attacks on other industries: the number of attacks on the public sector increased by 26%, and on the entertainment industry by 18%.