Russia Recorded the Largest Botnet Attack on Retail

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The new botnet is not used to damage the IT infrastructure of companies through DDoS attacks, but to collect internal information; large chains of retailers became victims. 

According to Alexander Lyamin, the founder and CEO of Qrator Labs, the main danger of data mining for retail companies is that attackers can conduct competitive analysis based on the collected data. In addition, data mining is often used in fraudulent schemes with theft or fraud of bonus points, as a tool of unfair competition. 

One of Russia’s largest retail chains Lenta acknowledges that the number of cyberattacks on retail has increased. The attackers target the personal data of employees and customers of the company. Botnet attacks can cause serious damage to businesses. X5 Group and Inventive Retail Group declined to comment. 

Experts add that data mining could be a competitive intelligence tool. “The retail sector is well suited for this since all chain stores have online versions, and analyzing the availability of goods on the site, customer reviews or price changes allows competitors to build their business more efficiently,” experts explain. 

Using data-mining in retail, it is possible to collect information that is valuable on the black market, for example, credit card numbers, or from competitors: customer patterns and other statistics.