Geopolitical events and military operations often trigger a cascade of online activity, both legitimate and malicious. Recent data from our global threat network highlights the strong connection between military escalations and cyberattacks, with the latest example unfolding in the Middle East. Operation Rising Lion Triggers Cyber Spikes Across Israeli Sites On June 13, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, and the ripple effects in cyberspace were immediate. The following day, traffic to Israeli websites surged to 172% above typical levels, as individuals likely sought real-time updates and information about the unfolding operation. While much of this spike can be attributed to organic traffic from news readers and concerned citizens, it was accompanied by notable increases in cyberattack activity: Spike in Web Application & API Protection (WAAP) Attacks: WAAP threats—including malicious bot traffic, API abuse, and web application attacks—jumped by 63% over the two days immediately following the start of the operation, particularly in the government and financial industries. Government sites had the largest rise, spiking 320% above average in the days following the operation. Rise in RPS of Application Layer (L7) DDoS Attacks: After briefly declining immediately following the operation, L7 DDoS attacks began to rise again in subsequent days, leaping to 54% more attacks than average within a week. Although the number of attacks has increased slightly, it remains within…Read More