How Cyberattacks Threaten the Stability of Democratic Processes
Politically motivated cybercriminals are increasingly using distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks to deliberately draw attention and cause chaos—especially during politically sensitive events such as elections. Myra Security’s 2025 Cybersecurity Report examines these growing threats and shows how DDoS attacks can jeopardize democratic processes.
Increase in Malicious Traffic Flows
The Myra Cybersecurity Report 2025 paints a mixed picture: While the number of malicious requests declined in the second half of 2024, it still rose by 25 percent year-over-year for the full year. In particular, the volume of malicious traffic flows increased by 53 percent in the first half of 2024. Malicious traffic peaked in July 2024 before international law enforcement agencies successfully took several key cybercrime-as-a-service platforms offline.
Despite this progress, the threat landscape remains serious: companies face an average of 49 attacks per year, and the costs of such attacks run into the billions. A striking example is the CrowdStrike incident, in which a faulty update caused approximately 8.5 million Windows systems worldwide to crash.
The Public Sector as a Preferred Target
According to Myra Security, public institutions in Europe are the preferred target of DDoS attacks. One-third of all reported attacks are directed at government websites and services. These attacks are particularly often politically motivated: 40 percent of DDoS attacks are carried out by activists or state-sponsored actors.
Romania serves as an example of the threats to democratic processes: In December 2024, the country’s election infrastructure was the target of 85,000 cyberattacks during the presidential election. These attacks were accompanied by disinformation campaigns on social media, prompting Romania’s Supreme Court to declare the first round of voting invalid.
DDoS Attacks During Elections: Sabotage of Democratic Processes
Elections provide an ideal stage for cybercriminals to generate maximum attention. In September 2024, Myra recorded several DDoS attacks on Austrian organizations in connection with the National Council elections. In Germany, too, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution warned in the run-up to the federal election of possible cyberattacks that could be initiated by other countries.
Warning from experts: Democracy in danger
“The sabotaged presidential election in Romania provides the blueprint: an AI botnet is enough to completely undermine our democracy. The time for warnings is over—either we strengthen our digital resilience now, or we lose control of our democratic processes,” explains Sergej Epp, CISO at Sysdig and member of the Myra Advisory Board.
Christof Klaus, Director of Global Network Defense at Myra, also emphasizes the importance of strengthening our digital defense capabilities: “We are facing challenging times, both politically and economically. Cyberattacks and disinformation are aimed at further destabilizing this situation. It is crucial that we build our digital resilience to protect our democracy and economy.”
Conclusion: Time for Proactive Protection
DDoS attacks pose a serious threat to democratic processes and public institutions. The increasing sophistication of such attacks, driven by cybercrime-as-a-service platforms and the use of AI-powered botnets, makes it clear that now, more than ever, we must strengthen our digital resilience.
Democratic nations must work together to improve their cybersecurity, combat disinformation, and protect their IT infrastructure in order to ensure the stability of their political and social processes.