Executive summary \r\n \r\n Holidays in China and Japan see a large increase in malicious botnet attacks. \r\n \r\n Akamai data finds a 15% increase in malicious botnet traffic in China around Lunar New Year. \r\n \r\n Further findings show a 150% increase in such traffic in Japan around Gregorian New Year. \r\n \r\n This, combined with other data from the past year — a 3x jump in attack traffic during China’s Singles’ Day — further demonstrates that attackers are leveraging the increased traffic around holidays to conduct their attacks in the retail and ecommerce verticals. \r\n \r\n An increase in total traffic for online shoppers around holidays provides attackers with “cover,” allowing them to more easily mask their attacks as websites are hit with heavy traffic. \r\n \r\n While a similar surge occurs during the high traffic seen at the end-of-year holidays in EMEA and the U.S.…